Why do farm loan figure look fishy
It seems that the number of farm loan accounts are much more than the farmer families. In some states, the number of farm loan accounts are much higher than the proportion of farmer families.
Who is taking farm loans in the country? The figures provided by the government in the Lok Sabha on Monday are an eye opener. Looking at the figures, it seems that the number of farm loan accounts are much more than the farmer families. In some states, the number of farm loan accounts are much higher than the proportionate farmer families.
For example, Tamil Nadu has a population of about 7.66 crore and more than 2.79 cr farm loan accounts, out of which 2.44 crore are in major banks, 17.07 lakh in co-operative banks and more than 17.89 lakh regional rural banks. That is, more than one-third of the people of Tamil Nadu have agricultural loans. By the end of June this year, the total outstanding agricultural loan figure on Tamil Nadu is more than Rs 3.47 lakh crore.
Andhra Pradesh is in second place with a population 5.28 crores and 1.40 crore agricultural loan accounts and total outstanding of Rs 2.43 lakh crore. Apart from Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, the states which account for more agricultural loans are Uttar Pradesh (1.51 crore), Karnataka (1.35 crore), Maharashtra 1.01 crore, Rajasthan (99.97 lakh) and West Bengal (75.38 lakh).
There are many other states where the agricultural loan figures of farmers are surprising. In Delhi too, 4.62 lakh agriculture loan accounts are open and the total outstanding amoungt is Rs 15,716 crore. There are 73.77 lakh agricultural loan accounts in Kerala with Rs 1.09 lakh crore outstanding loan.
The Government figures show that till June this year, there are a total of 15.53 crore agricultural loan accounts in the country and more than Rs 21 lakh crore loans have been disbursed, that is, on an average, every farmer has more than Rs 1.35 lakh loans. When all farmers were included under Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi, the figure was 11.28 crore. It seems from these figures that more accounts have been opened in the country for agricultural loans while the number of farmers is less. There is also a possibility that many people are taking loans and using that loan for non-agriculture purposes.
Among all the loans given in the country, the rate of agricultural loan is the lowest, in general, agricultural loan is given at 7 percent interest per annum, but if the loan is returned before the completion of one year, then 3 percent rebate is given. So the effective rate is just 4%.
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