Kerala banks to implement relief package for farmers

A good number of banks in Kerala have decided to implement the relief package announced by the state government for farmers and write off loans up to Rs 1 lakh availed of by farmers who had committed suicide.

Announcing this at the State Level Bankers Committee (SLBC) meet held here, M B N Rao, chairman of SLBC, Kerala, said that almost all major banks such as Canara Bank, State Bank of India, State Bank of Travancore, Indian Bank, South Indian Bank, Syndicate Bank, Union Bank of India, Indian Overseas Bank and Gramin Banks have decided to write off the loans.

Rao added that the process of identification of eligible cases was underway and that SLBC, at its review meet, had identified 205 cases of loan borrowings by farmers from commercial banks to be written off. The data for the co-operative sector, however, has not been finalised.

As many as 86 cases, amounting to Rs 42 lakh, have been written off by commercial banks as on September 30 . Commercial banks have decided to complete the exercise by the 30th of this month, he said.

Rao also called upon the co-operative banks, which have almost 75 per cent of the cases eligible under the scheme, to speed up the proceedings regarding the matter.

The SLBC meeting also decided to undertake a comprehensive study on indebtedness of farmers in the state. The study will be conducted by the Centre for Management Development, Thiruvananthapuram. As per National Sample Survey Study, Kerala farmers are among the most indebted in the country.

During the fiscal 2005-2006, banks have disbursed loans worth Rs 9,152 crore, compared with Rs 4,549 crore disbursed in 2003-04. During the current year, banks are expected to disburse Rs 9,645 crore in the state.

It was also noted that almost 95 per cent of the farmers in the state have availed of farm loans.

In addition to the loan waiver scheme for farmers who had committed suicide, an amount of Rs 406 crore of relief has been granted to one lakh farmer-borrowers during the last two years.

The review meet also pointed out that about loans worth Rs 69 crore availed of by 26,520 farmers have been written off in Kerala during the past two years.