• Investment World
• eWorld
• Brand Line
• Mentor
• Life
• Brand Quest
• The New Manager
• BL Club
• Smartbuy

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Cross Currency

• Rates
  
  

Shipping

• Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources
• In Focus
• In Depth
• Events 2007

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• The Hindu ePaper
• Business Line
• Business Line ePaper
• Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

Reaching out: The Union Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, and the Minister for Development of North Eastern Region, Mr Mani Shankar Aiyar, at the ’Special Summit on Banking Industries and Credit Issues in North Eastern Region’, in the Capital on Saturday. Kamal Narang

Our Bureau

New Delhi, Oct. 4 The Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, on Saturday turned down the request of certain North Eastern State Governments to change the cut-off date under agri debt waiver scheme so as to accommodate co-operative bank loans given in the early 1990s to small and marginal farmers in the region.

Blaming the managers of such cooperative banks for ineptitude in recovery of such loans in nearly two decades, Mr Chidambaram said that it was not possible for the Government to now change the rules of the agri debt waiver scheme after it had been fully implemented by June 30, 2008.

He was addressing a Summit on ‘Banking Industries and Credit Issues in the North Eastern Region’, organised by the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region.

The Finance Minister highlighted that the agri debt waiver scheme had covered loan disbursement made between April 1, 1997 and March 31, 2007 and remained overdue on December 31, 2007 and unpaid as on February 29, 2008.

Some of the North Eastern State Governments had made a reference to the Centre to provide benefit under the debt waiver scheme for advances disbursed from 1990 to April 1997 so that the farmers could be made eligible for fresh advances and banks also reduces their NPAs.

“A loan given in 1990 unpaid for 18 years cannot be a loan. That loan should have been fully provided for and written off long long ago. There is merit in saying that a loan given prior to 1997 cannot be treated as a loan anymore,” Mr Chidambaram said.

Meanwhile, the Finance Minister promised to ensure more credit flow to the North Eastern States even as he wanted them to identify intermediating agencies.

“We will ensure credit will flow not only through conventional banking but also through unconventional methods like banking facilitators, banking correspondents, micro finance institutions, civil society organisations, local community organisations and churches,” Mr Chidambaram said.

The Finance Minister also said that the final package of the Sardesai Committee, which was appointed to look into the issues of the North Eastern region and was a sub-committee of the Vaidyanathan Committee on revamp of co-operative credit structure, would be ready in the next ten days.

“I shall ensure that the Sardesai committee report as modified by Nabard and Government are implemented very soon. It will not remain on my table for more than a day,” he added.

More Stories on : Economy | Other States

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line