‘List farmers for debt waiver soon’

FinanceMinister P Chidambaram on Thursday asked public sector banks to come out with a list of farmers...

FinanceMinister P Chidambaram on Thursday asked public sector banks to come out with a list of farmers for the purpose of debt waiver scheme by June 25, so that these loans could be waived by the end of this month as outlined in the Budget.

“On June 25, we hope to get the list (of farmers),” the Finance Minister told heads of various PSU banks through video-conferencing.

He asked these banks to prepare the list by June 23.

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On June 24, Financial Services Secretary Arun Ramanathan will get in touch with of PSU banks to confirm that the list is prepared, he said.

The Finance Minister also clarified that interest not serviced as on December 31, 2007 will also be included for the purpose of debt waiver in the case of investment loans.

In case of loans to farmers through self-help groups, Chidambaram said disaggregated data could be maintained in books of these groups, provided banks are satisfied with that data.

Under the loan waiver scheme, loans provided directly to group of individual farmers like SHGs will also be included.

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Chidambram had set June 30 as the deadline for waiving debt of farmers with holdings up to three hectares.

The size of the loan waiver was subsequently enhanced to Rs 71,680 crore, and its coverage widened to include seven million more small and marginal farmers, taking the number of beneficiaries to 43 million from the originally proposed 40 million

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