Telangana Government Releases Guidelines for Crop Loan Waiver Scheme

The Congress government in Telangana is taking steps to fulfill its promise of waiving farmers' loans, with Chief Minister Revanth Reddy ensuring that the loans will be waived off before August 15. Guidelines related to the loan waiver were released by the Telangana government on Monday.

Under the scheme, crop loan waiver up to Rs.2.00 lakh is applicable for every farmer family owning land in the state, specifically for short-term crop loans. The scheme covers loans taken by farmers from scheduled commercial banks, regional rural banks, district cooperative central banks, and branches in the state. Loans sanctioned or renewed after 12-12-2018 and outstanding as of 09-12-2023 are eligible for the waiver scheme, including the principal and interest amounts. The Food Security Card (PDS) database of the Civil Supplies Department will be used to determine eligibility for the scheme within farmer families.

The Crop Loan Waiver 2024 scheme will be implemented by the Commissioner and Administrator of Agriculture (DOA), with the National Informatics Center (SIC) in Hyderabad serving as a partner. The IT portal will be managed jointly by the Director of Agriculture and SBI, allowing for the collection of loan account data, validation of eligibility amounts, and submission of bills to the IFMIS portal of the finance department. Each bank will appoint a Bank Nodal Officer to act as a coordinator between the bank's agriculture department managers and the SIC, ensuring the digital signing of crop loan data.

The implementation of the scheme aims to provide relief to farmers burdened by debts and support their agricultural activities in the state of Telangana.