During a cabinet meeting chaired by Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday, it was decided that farmers who repay crop loans regularly will now be charged zero percent interest on loans up to Rs 3 lakh. A decision was taken at today's cabinet meeting to give another two per cent concession at the current rate of one per cent if the loan is repaid within the stipulated period of one lakh to three lakh.
Deputy CM and Finance Minister Ajit Pawar while presenting state budget 2021-22 had announced that crop loans up to Rs 3 lakh would be given at zero percent interest rate.
As a result of this decision, the farmers will be able to avail the crop loan at zero percent interest rate as they will get the combined benefit of 3% interest rate concession offered by the state government and 3% interest concession from the central government.
Under Dr. Punjabrao Deshmukh Interest Concession Scheme, interest concession is given as an incentive to the farmers who repay the short term crop loan within the stipulated time. Under the scheme, farmers who repay short term crop loans within the stipulated time were given 3% interest concession up to a loan limit of Rs 3 lakhs. The Cabinet has now decided to give them a discount of 2% interest rate if they repay the loan within the stipulated time.
Accordingly, the farmers who repay the short term crop loan within the stipulated time will get 3 (three per cent) interest concession on the loan up to the limit of Rs. 3 lakhs. Therefore, from 2021-22, if the short term loan is repaid to the farmers within the prescribed period up to the loan limit of Rs. 3 lakhs, they will get a total interest discount of 6%.
This will enable farmers to purchase modern agricultural inputs like seeds, fertilizers, medicines to increase agricultural income. This will increase agricultural production. Also, farmers will repay the crop loan on time to get interest relief. This will help improve the financial situation by increasing the recovery of banks.
