Banker's reject Naidu's plea on farm loans
HYDERABAD: At a time when Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu is struggling to implement his crop loan waiver promise in the cash-starved State, bankers on Monday rejected his plea for rescheduling the loans with immediate effect.
Naidu, who met the bankers at the State Level Bankers' Committee (SLBC) meeting here, sought more time to give them clarity on his government's plan.
However, the bankers told him in no uncertain terms that they could not entertain his plea of rescheduling crop loans unless the Reserve Bank of India permits them to do so.
Naidu told them that of the 661 mandals in Seemandhra, 113 were affected by drought while another 462 were hit by cyclones and heavy rains last year. '85 per cent of mandals in Seemandhra are calamity hit, which entitles them to avail rescheduling of crop loans,' he argued.
But the bankers rejected his argument on the ground that the government of the undivided AP had failed to send a report to the Centre on the calamity-hit mandals within the stipulated time.
Naidu, however, pointed out that the then government couldn't send the report as the State was then grappling with Telangana and Samaikyandhra agitations.
President of the SLBC, who is also CMD of Andhra Bank, CVR Rajendran told Naidu that the need of the hour was clarity as farmers were not repaying debts. 'Banks are unable to recycle funds owing to non-repayment of loans. Bankers have been facing protests.'
Rajendran went on to add that slippage of farm loans into non-performing assets (NPAs) is on the high side resulting in higher provisioning ultimately affecting the credit rating of the banks.
Naidu tried to convince the bankers, pointing at the rich natural resources in the State but didn't give any clarity on the modalities of the loan waiver scheme.
In the meantime, he requested bankers to reschedule the crop loans till his government came forward with the final plan.
'As khariff season is beginning, I request all the bankers not to forcibly recover dues from the farmers. I call upon you to announce a moratorium for a period of one year on all crop loans.
If you can announce a schedule of repayments for 3 to 7 years, our government will get one month additional time to formulate a concrete plan for effectively implementing the loan waiver scheme,' Naidu told the bankers.
News Posted: 1 July, 2014
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