Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan has said that in order to provide financial relief to farmers in the 15 drought-affected districts, crop loans worth Rs 7,000 crore would be restructured.
Chavan was addressing the media after chairing a State level bankers’ meeting.
He said that in the drought-affected areas, many farmers have not been able to repay the loans. Therefore, the Government has decided to restructure the loans after taking into consideration the principal amount and interest.
Farmers from 11,809 villages in the 15 affected districts would get some relief from the debt restructuring exercise.
He said that in spite of the drought and other natural calamities, crop loan disbursal has quadrupled in the last three years, “From about Rs 6,000 crore, farm loan disbursement has increased to Rs 24,000 crore. In the current fiscal, we want to disburse Rs 34,000 crore,” he said.
He said that bankers have been informed about the Government’s concern regarding investment credit decline. The decline in the credit-deposit ratio in a few districts is also a matter of worry for the Government, he added.