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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Loan waiver is not the solution -Anjani Kumar and Seema Bathla

Loan waiver is not the solution -Anjani Kumar and Seema Bathla

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published Published on Nov 14, 2017   modified Modified on Nov 14, 2017
-The Hindu

We need to revisit the credit policy with a focus on the outreach of banks and financial inclusion

Since Independence, one of the primary objectives of India’s agricultural policy has been to improve farmers’ access to institutional credit and reduce their dependence on informal credit. As informal sources of credit are mostly usurious, the government has improved the flow of adequate credit through the nationalisation of commercial banks, and the establishment of Regional Rural Banks and the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development. It has also launched various farm credit programmes over the years such as the Kisan Credit Card scheme in 1998, the Agricultural Debt Waiver and Debt Relief Scheme in 2008, the Interest Subvention Scheme in 2010-11, and the Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana in 2014.

It is encouraging to see a robust increase in institutional credit from Rs. 8 lakh crore in 2014-15 to Rs. 10 lakh crore in 2017-18. Of this, Rs. 3.15 lakh crore is meant for capital investment, while the remaining is for crop loans, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare. Actual credit flow has considerably exceeded the target. The result is that the share of institutional credit to agricultural gross domestic product has increased from 10% in 1999-2000 to nearly 41% in 2015-16.

Clamour for loan waiver

While the flow of institutional farm credit has gone up, the rolling out of the farm waiver scheme in recent months may slow down its pace and pose a challenge to increasing agricultural growth. The Uttar Pradesh government has promised a Rs. 0.36 lakh crore loan waiver covering 87 lakh farmers, whereas the Maharashtra government has announced it’s writing off Rs. 0.34 lakh crore covering more than 89 lakh farmers. The demand for a loan waiver is escalating in Punjab, Karnataka, and other States. This clamour is only poised to increase as the 2019 general election comes closer.

There is a serious debate on whether providing loans to farmers at a subsidised rate of interest or their waiver would accelerate farmers’ welfare. At the global level, studies indicate that access to formal credit contributes to an increase in agricultural productivity and household income. However, such links have not been well documented in India, where emotional perceptions dominate the political decision quite often. A recent study by the International Food Policy Research Institute reveals that at the national level, 48% of agricultural households do not avail a loan from any source. Among the borrowing households, 36% take credit from informal sources, especially from moneylenders who charge exorbitant rates of interest in the 25%-70% range per annum. More importantly, the study using the 2012-13 National Sample Survey-Situation Assessment Survey (schedule 33) finds that compared to non-institutional borrowers, institutional borrowers earn a much higher return from farming (17%). The net return from farming of formal borrowers is estimated at Rs.43,740/ha, which is significantly greater than that of informal sector borrowers at Rs.33,734/ha. Similarly, access to institutional credit is associated with higher per capita monthly consumption expenditures.

A negative relationship between the size of farm and per capita consumption expenditure (a proxy for income) further underscores the importance of formal credit in assisting marginal and poor farm households in reducing poverty. Indeed, access to formal institutional credit also tends to enhance farmers’ risk-bearing ability and may induce them to take up risky ventures and investments that could yield higher incomes. Going by the NSS schedule 18.2 (debt and investment), rural households’ investments in agriculture grew at a high rate of 9.15% per annum between 2002 and 2012. While 63.4% of agricultural investments are done through institutional credit, landless, marginal and small farmers’ investment demand is met through informal sources to the tune of 40.6%, 52.1%, and 30.8%, respectively. Statistics show that nearly 82% of all indebted farm households (384 lakh) possess less than two hectares of land compared to other land holders numbering 84 lakh households. Those residing in the less developed States are more vulnerable and hence remain debt ridden.

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The Hindu, 14 November, 2017, http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/loan-waiver-is-not-the-solution/article20394319.ece?homepage=true


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