Haryana Government waivers interest, penalty on crop loans

In a major announcement before the upcoming state elections, the Haryana Government has waived over INR 4750 crores in interests and penalties on crop loans taken by farmers in Haryana.

What has happened?

• The Chief Minister of Haryana announced a one-time waiver of Rs 4750 crores of the interest accrued on and the penalties levied on the crop loans given to the farmers in Haryana.
• This recent move of the Haryana Government is expected to benefit over 10 lakh farmers in the state.
• The farmers most likely to benefit are those who had obtained money from the various Primary Agriculture Cooperative Societies (PACS), District Cooperative Central Banks (DCCB) and the Land Mortgage Banks (LMB) in the state.
• The CM also announced that the quantum of the relief is not final and depending on the need, it may go up by another 100-200 crores and may touch Rs 5000 crores.

Prevailing Interest Rates for Farmers

In Haryana, the farmers borrowing from the District Cooperative Central Banks pay a 2% interest for all loans which are less than INR 5 lakh, 5% for a loan which is between INR 5 lakh to INR 10 lakh and 10% interest for all loans which are over INR 10 lakhs.

How will the relief work?

All penalty imposed on the borrowers from the PACS will be waivered. For the LMBs, the farmers will be required to pay only 50% of the simple interest while the rest will be paid by the state government. The Haryana Government has also waivered all the penalty levied on the farmers for non-payment of the loans.