As many as 70.32 lakh Kisan Credit Cards have been sanctioned with credit limit of ₹62,870 crore, as of June 30, out of the ₹2 trillion concessional credit announced under the the Aatma Nirbhar Bharat package announced by the government in May, the finance ministry said on Wednesday.
“This will benefit 2.5 crore farmers, including fishermen and dairy farmers," the ministry said.
In May, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman measures to provide credit and relief to lockdown-hit farmers, including a ₹2 trillion credit scheme to cover 25 million farmers who do not have Kisan Credit Cards. The move was announced to enable such farmers to gain access to institutional credit at concessional interest rate, and also cover fishermen and farmers engaged in animal husbandry.
“Nearly ₹2 trillion concessional credit will be extended to boost the farming activity. The special drive will benefit 2.5 crore farmers who don’t have these Kisan Credit Cards. The rough estimate is that if there are 9 crore PM Kisan beneficiaries, of that 2.5 crore farmers don’t have Kisan Credit Card. Now we are reaching out to them and giving them the card," Sithraman had said.
The ministry also said that the government has disbursed ₹24,586.87 crore to cooperative banks, regional rural banks (RRBs) and microfinance institutions, under ₹30,000 crore special liquidity facility by National Bank For Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD).
“This will help 3 crore small and marginal farmers meet their post-harvest and kharif sowing needs," it said.
In May, Sitharaman had also announced ₹30,000 crore in additional emergency working capital funding through NABARD. The 30,000 crore additional emergency working capital was an addition to the ₹90,000 crore budgetary allocation announced on 1 February for NABARD.
The minister had also said that NABARD will extend additional refinance support of ₹30,000 crore for crop loan requirement of rural cooperative banks and regional rural banks. The scheme is front-loaded with on-tap facility to 33 state cooperative banks, 351 district cooperative banks and 43 RRBs available on tap based on their lending. The scheme is designed to meet post harvest rabi (winter) and current kharif (summer) requirements of 30 million small and marginal farmers in the months of May and June.
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