Gross NPA in the agricultural sector of the public sector banks of the country increased to Rs. Cross a trillion

Mumbai, Ta. October 14, 2019, Monday

The gross non-performing assets (NPAs) of public sector banks in the country's agricultural sector have surpassed one trillion rupees. According to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data, gross NPAs of public sector banks in agriculture and allied sectors increased by Rs 1.8 trillion at the end of June this year, while the total credit to the agricultural sector stood at Rs 1.8 trillion. Thus gross gross NPAs were more than 5%.

The gross NPA figure in the agricultural sector at the end of June 1 was Rs. 5 crore. Thus, NPAs have increased by about twenty percent over a one-year period. In the last two years, NPAs in this sector have increased by about 8%.

The NPA has seen an increase in expectations that loan waivers will be announced during the Lok Sabha elections this year, a banker said. The country has recently seen a significant increase in the amount of amortization loans in the country, according to a recent Reserve Bank report.

There have been numerous advertisements for loan waiver by state governments during election time. Ten states have waived Rs 1.8 trillion farmer loans in recent years.

The states that have waived loans in the recent past include Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Karnataka, Telangana, etc. Whenever the assembly elections are approaching, the farmers of those states are deferring payment of loans. They expect the ruling party to announce a loan waiver.

Considering this fact, banks are also now adopting a strategy to provide long-term loans instead of short-term loans to farmers so that the opportunities for defaults are low, said Reserve Bank sources.

Farmers are becoming a major votebank for any political party. Political parties do not hesitate to announce schemes like their loan waiver to kill farmers. Apart from this, the agricultural sector of the country is almost entirely dependent on monsoon, so in the case of bad monsoon, governments have to solve the problems of the farmers.