Maharashtra tops farm loan disbursement

Maharashtra was also one of the states with the highest penetration of co-operative banks in terms of contribution to agriculture loans. About 28.66 per cent of all agri loans disbursement in Maharashtra in the first half of this financial year came from cooperative banks. This was an improvement from the 24.45 per cent share in 2013-14. The highest share for cooperative bank agriculture credit disbursal was in Odisha with 46.37 per cent. It was followed by Chhattisgarh at 34.61 per cent, Nagaland at 30.82 per cent and Andaman & Nicobar islands at 29.34 per cent. At the other end of the spectrum, states like Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim had no cooperative bank agriculture credit disbursements.

The role of cooperative banks is important in the light of the government wanting to improve farm income and improving farmers’ access to credit.