Maha govt finalises waiver of farmers’ loans of up to ₹1.5L

The Maharashtra government on Saturday announced it would spend ₹34,022 crore to write off farm loans, a decision that would help 89 lakh farmers in debt across the state.

The loan waiver, which chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said was the “highest by any state in India’s history”, will cover 65% of all farmers in Maharashtra. Of this, loans of 40 lakh farmers will be completely written off.

The government announced the waiver a month ahead of the July 25 deadline set by farmers’ outfits. The loan waiver decision was made at an unscheduled cabinet meeting called by Fadnavis on Saturday. The write-off came with conditions — a cap of ₹1.5 lakh per farmer, and only farmers who took loans before June 30, 2016, are eligible.

34,022 crore

Worth loans waived off by Maharashtra government

89 lakh

Of the 1.37 crore farmers in the state to benefit from the loan waiver package

40 lakh

Farmers whose entire loans will be written off under the package

1.5 lakh

Loan waiver cap per famer “We have been demanding a complete loan waiver without any cap. The government has backtracked on the assurance it gave to us,” said Raghunath Patil of the Shetkari Sanghatana.

Devendra Fadnavis, CM HT PHOTO: KUNAL PATIL “This was a historic decision as no other state has given such a large waiver. Andhra waived loans up to u20,000cr, Punjab gave u10,000cr, Telangana has a u15,000-cr waiver, Karnataka announced u8,000cr.”