New Maharashtra State Launches 2026 Ahilyadevi Holkar Farmer Loan Waiver For 5.6M Families

The Maharashtra government on Wednesday formally launched the Punyashlok Ahilyadevi Holkar Farmer Loan Waiver Scheme 2026, with Cooperation Minister Babasaheb Patil releasing a representative list of eligible beneficiaries from seven districts.

Scheme aims to reduce financial burden and boost farmer confidence

While speaking to Media Patil said the state government had taken a historic decision to provide farm loan waivers of up to Rs 2 lakh to around 5.6 million eligible farmer families. He said the representative list was released to mark Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis' birthday and the birth anniversary of late Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar.

Patil said the scheme was designed not only to waive farm loans but also to reduce the financial burden on farmers and enable them to resume agricultural activities with renewed confidence. He added that the Cooperation Department was implementing the scheme on a war footing. The Cabinet had approved the scheme on June 2, 2026, while its eligibility criteria were partially revised through a Government Resolution issued on July 15.

53 banks upload loan data to MahaIT portal for implementation

The minister said 53 banks, including 30 District Central Cooperative Banks, 12 nationalised banks and several private banks, had uploaded farmers' loan account details to a MahaIT-developed portal for implementation of the loan waiver and one-time settlement components of the scheme.

Loan account data from District Central Cooperative Banks has been verified by auditors of the Cooperation Department, while information on ineligible beneficiaries has also been uploaded. Those excluded include current and former elected representatives, office-bearers of local self-government bodies, government and semi-government employees, income tax payers with non-agricultural income, and office-bearers and employees of cooperative banks, sugar factories, spinning mills, milk unions and market committees.

Following computerised verification of the data, the government has prepared the final list of eligible beneficiaries. In the first phase, a representative list comprising 532 eligible beneficiaries from seven districts has been released.

Patil said eligible farmers would receive SMS notifications on their registered mobile numbers for Aadhaar authentication. Beneficiary lists will also be displayed at gram panchayats, cooperative societies and concerned bank branches.

Each beneficiary will be assigned a unique identification number for Aadhaar authentication. The minister said authentication facilities would be available through nearly 32,000 Aaple Sarkar Seva Kendras across the state, although farmers must first complete their registration on the AgriStack platform. After successful Aadhaar authentication, the loan waiver amount will be credited directly to beneficiaries' loan accounts through the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) system.

The government aims to complete the process for eligible beneficiaries of all District Central Cooperative Banks by July 31, 2026, after which the benefit transfer process for eligible farmers associated with commercial banks will begin.

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