Sitharaman press conference: Rs 86,600 crore of loans sanctioned for farmers in March-April

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Thursday that the government sanctioned 63 lakh loans to the tune of Rs 86,600 crore amid the lockdown.The minister said that these loans were approved in the period from March 1 to April 30.

As part of liquidity support to farmers and rural economy amid the coronavirus lockdown, National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) refinanced Rs 29,500 crore to cooperative banks as well as regional rural banks in March.

Sitharaman said that the Centre provided Rs 4,200 crore as Rural Infrastructure Development Fund to the states. She further added that Rs 6,700 crore working capital limit has been sanctioned for procurement of agricultural products to state government entities since March.

The Finance Minister said that as part of direct support to farmers and rural economy, Rs 4.22 lakh crore loans were sanctioned for 3 crore farmers with loan moratorium of three months. She also said that 25 lakh new Kisan Credit Cards were sanctioned with a loan limit of Rs 25,000 crore.

These announcements come as part of the second tranche of announcements for the Rs 20 lakh crore stimulus package announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. On Wednesday, the Finance Minister announced a host of measures for MSMEs as well as taxpayers, among others. All these measures are part of the initiative Atma Nirbhar Bharat or self-reliant India.

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