Farmers ready to repay only capital amount of loan taken from Nashik District Central Cooperative bank

Time of India

29-07-2025

Nashik: Members of the Shetkari Sanghatana's Nashik district unit met with the officials of the Nashik District Central Cooperative Bank to reiterate their demand that farmers who are defaulters should be allowed to refund the capital in instalments without any interest.
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According to Bhagwan Borade, the state coordinator for Shetkari Sanghatana, an agitation has been ongoing since June 1, 2023, in front of the Nashik Civil Hospital. The farmers are demanding that interest be completely waived on their loans. Borade, highlighting discrepancies in the bank's accounting, said, "Farmers who took a loan of Rs 2 lakh have already repaid more than Rs 4 lakh, and still the outstanding with them is about Rs 5 lakh.
A farmer took a loan of Rs 7 lakh for a tractor, repaid Rs 16 lakh, and the outstanding shown is Rs 42 lakh. What kind of banking is done by the NDCC?"
Borade further criticised the bank's reluctance to reduce interest rates despite farmers' willingness to repay after concessions. "When farmers were ready to repay the loan after a concession in interest, the bank was not ready to cut the interest. Now that the farmers are asking the bank to waive off the interest, the bank is coming up with lower interest rates," he said.
The farmers have faced significant hardships, including the auctioning of their land. Borade said, "We have suffered immensely. The land of the defaulting farmers is being auctioned, and they are left with nothing. We, therefore, met Vidyadhar Anaskar, who is the chairman of the administrative board of Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank, which has been announced as the institutional advisor to the NDCC, and requested him to go through our proposal.
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In response, the NDCC Bank announced a one-time settlement (OTS) scheme in its recent general body meeting. The scheme will charge 2% interest on loans of up to Rs 1 lakh, 4% on loans from Rs 1 to Rs 4 lakh, 5% for loans up to Rs 10 lakh, and 6% for loans beyond those amounts. Currently, the NDCC Bank has an outstanding of Rs 983.3 crore in capital and Rs 1,299.8 crore in interest from 56,040 defaulters, totalling Rs 2,283 crore.
The farmers have proposed that since the bank has agreed to bear the loss of Rs 620 crore, the remaining interest of Rs 679 crore should be subsidised by state govt. This subsidy would enable farmers to repay the outstanding capital in 10 equated monthly instalments. Borade warned, "We are ready, and we need immediate results. If govt delays in taking a decision, we will be intensifying our agitation from Aug 15, and then our demands will change.
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