The Reserve Bank of India is yet to formally give its nod for rescheduling of crop loans proposed by the state governments of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

RBI Deputy Governor R Gandhi said initial discussions had taken place between the central bank and the two state governments. “We have asked them (state governments) to come back with full details, which we are awaiting,” he told media persons on the sidelines of FINSEC-2014, a financial sector conclave, organised by FICCI here today.

Earlier, the Chief Minister and Finance Minister of Andhra Pradesh had, on separate occasions, indicated that the RBI had informally cleared the crop loan rescheduling scheme.

He said there were standing guidelines and norms for rescheduling of crop loans in the event of calamities or disasters.

New ATMs for rural areas

Speaking at the conclave, the Deputy Governor said the central bank had asked banks to come out with new ATMs for the rural areas. “Rural customers require lower denomination currency notes, unlike their urban counterparts. Hence, banks will have to come out with different ATMs for rural areas,” he said.

He said tha the RBI had initiated a move to allow banks to mobilise all unclaimed and unused deposits to form a fund for education of depositors on various banking operations.

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