The Finance Minister confirmed there is no current proposal to waive outstanding agricultural loans for farmers. The government has not set a timeline or outlined any measures for such a loan waiver initiative
Published Feb 03, 2025 | 4:32 PM ⚊ Updated Feb 03, 2025 | 4:39 PM
Agriculture field in Andhra (Wikimedia commons)
Synopsis:In the Lok Sabha session on 3 February, 2025, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman addressed MP Hanuman Beniwal’s query on outstanding agricultural loans. The Ministry provided data as of 31 March, 2024, showing Tamil Nadu’s highest debt at ₹3.84 lakh crore, while Telangana reported the lowest at ₹1.42 lakh crore
During the Lok Sabha session on 3 February, 2025, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman addressed a question regarding the outstanding agricultural loans across various states, raised by MP Hanuman Beniwal.
The Finance Ministry provided detailed data on the current state of farmer loans as of 31 March, 2024.
In response to the inquiry, the Finance Minister confirmed that the government has data on the outstanding agricultural loans, which was sourced from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD).
The details of the outstanding loans, broken down by states and agencies, have been made available in an annexure.
Among the states, the loan amounts vary significantly. In South India, Tamil Nadu has the highest outstanding agricultural loan at ₹3.84 lakh crore, spread across 2.88 crore accounts.
Telangana, on the other hand, has the lowest outstanding debt in the region, with ₹1.42 lakh crore across 77 lakh accounts.
The following are the key details of the outstanding loans in southern states as of March 2024:
When asked about the possibility of formulating a scheme to waive off the entire outstanding agricultural loans to empower farmers economically, the Finance Minister stated that there is no such proposal under consideration at this time.
The government has not set any timeline for such an initiative, nor has it proposed any measures to implement a loan waiver for farmers.
(Edited by Ananya Rao with inputs from Saicharan Sana)
