6 days ago
Outstanding agri loans cross Rs 28 lakh crore, Centre says no waiver plan
The Centre has informed that agricultural loans worth over ₹28.5 lakh crore are outstanding — but ruled out any plans for a waiver.
Responding to Parliamentary questions by Lok Sabha MPs Supriya Sule (Nationalist Congress Party – Sharadchandra Pawar, Maharashtra), Hanuman Beniwal (Rashtriya Loktantrik Party, Rajasthan) and others, the Ministry of Finance informed Monday that outstanding agricultural loans stood at Rs 28,50,779.43 crore as of March 31, 2025. These are due from 1,762.96 lakh accounts.
'No proposal to waive off the outstanding agricultural loans, is under consideration with Union Government,' the government said.
However, it added that several measures have been taken 'to provide relief and to improve the economic conditions of the farmers which inter-alia includes timely and adequate credit through Kisan Credit Card (KCC) under which crop loan up to Rs 3 lakh is provided at subsidized interest rates under the Modified Interest Subvention Scheme (MISS) with additional incentives for timely repayment, fixation of progressively increased agricultural credit target, issuance of revised Priority Sector Lending guidelines to ensure improved credit flow to the agricultural sector etc.'
The top five states in terms of outstanding agricultural loans are Tamil Nadu: Rs 4,03,367 crore; Andhra Pradesh: Rs 3,08,716 crore; Maharashtra: Rs 2,60,799 crore; Uttar Pradesh: Rs 2,28,560 crore; Karnataka: Rs 2,22,301 crore.
Other states with dues in excess of Rs 1 lakh crore are Rajasthan: Rs 1,87,322 crore; Madhya Pradesh: Rs 1,62,385 crore; Kerala: Rs 1,52,198 crore; Telangana: Rs 1,44,346 crore; Gujarat: Rs 1,44,330 crore; Punjab: Rs 1,04,353 crore.
Apart from Sule and Beniwal, the questions were put up by NCP-SP MPs from Maharashtra: Bhaskar Murlidhar Bhagare, Nilesh Dnyandev Lanke, Mohite Patil Dhairyasheel Rajsinh, Dr Amol Ramsing Kolhe, and Bajrang Manohar Sonwane, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackrey) MP from Maharashtra Sanjay Dina Patil, and Congress MP, Prof Varsha Eknath Gaikwad, also from Maharashtra.
The MPs had also asked 'whether there is any correlation found between outstanding agricultural loans and incidence of farmer suicides in states like Maharashtra and if so, the data available with the Government on such cases during the last five years.'
The government said that the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) publication 'Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India' is available till the year 2022 but that it does not specify separate reasons for farmer suicides.
The MPs had also asked 'whether any specific categories of farmers marginal, small, tenant, SC/ST are more burdened with outstanding loans and if so, the details thereof' to which the government said that 'NABARD All India Rural Financial Inclusion Survey (NAFIS) for the period of 2021-2022 indicates a generally positive relationship between landholding size and household indebtedness, with the proportion of indebted households increasing as land size increases, up to 1 hectare. Beyond this threshold, a marginal decline in the incidence of indebtedness is observed among households with larger landholdings.'
Beniwal said, 'The BJP government, which falsely claims to protect farmers' interests, has once again refused in the Lok Sabha to waive the outstanding agricultural loans of farmers in Rajasthan and other states across the country.'
'The continuous increase in farmers' loans exposes the falsehood of all those claims by the government about the upliftment and welfare of farmers. The details of outstanding agricultural loans in different states of the country reveal a grim situation. Today, the government is saying that it is trying to provide relief to farmers by issuing KCC. Is merely providing loans equivalent to giving relief to farmers?' he said, asking Prime Minister Narendra Modi, 'to formulate a scheme to completely waive the agricultural loans of farmers in Rajasthan and across the country to strengthen the economic condition of the nation's farmers.'
Sule and some other Maha Vikas Aghadi MPs also met Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Tuesday where they apprised him of various issues and also complained about Maharashtra Agriculture minister Manikrao Kokate, recently caught playing rummy in the Assembly, over his 'anti-farmer' stance and demanded his resignation and appointment of a 'sensitive Agriculture Minister who understands the issues of farmers.'
