To provide succour to farmers whose crops were affected due to unseasonal rains and hailstorm earlier this month, banks in Maharashtra will convert crop loans taken by them into three-year term loans, provide additional loans and consider them eligible for crop loans next year.
Unseasonal rains and hailstorm hit 28 of the 35 districts in the State earlier this month, affecting crops on about 19 lakh hectares.
Lead District Managers in the affected districts will convene meetings of the district level consultative committees (DLCCs), which will be chaired by District Collectors.
The DLCCs will assess the losses suffered by farmers and the extent of loan restructuring/ rescheduling they require, said a senior Bank of Maharashtra (BoM) official.
BoM is the convenor of the State Level Bankers’ Committee (SLBC) for Maharashtra. SLBC is the consultative and coordination body of all financial institutions operating in each State.
SLBC, among others, takes up issues relating to: regional imbalances in availability of banking facilities; regional imbalances in deployment of credit; liaison with State Government; district credit plans; uniformity in terms and conditions of lending and review of credit flows.
BoM, in a statement, said, “A brief review of the position in the State was taken (on March 12) as a major portion of the State is suffering from hailstorms and untimely rains for the past fortnight.
“Chairman of the State Level Bankers’ Committee assured full support of the bankers to Government decision…”
At the SLBC meeting, all the banks were asked to increase the pace of disbursement to the agriculture sector, particularly to investment credit in the next financial year.
All the banks were advised to concentrate on seeding of Aadhaar numbers to beneficiaries’ accounts for Direct Benefit Transfer.
Banks were also asked to concentrate on opening new branches in un-banked rural villages for implementation of meaningful financial inclusion.