Agriculture ministry withdrew panel's demonetisation report: Opposition MPs

Report that said farmer face difficulties in purchasing seeds and fertilisers due to demonetisation was revised to say there was no impact, say MPs.

The agriculture ministry has withdrawn from the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance its report that suggested the government's decision to demonetise Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes in November 2016 affected farmers, according to Opposition party members.

Congress leader M Veerappa Moily on Tuesday chaired a committee meeting where RBI governor Urjit Patel made a presentation on the state of the economy.

Some committee members, who belong to opposition parties, said that the ministry on November 20 presented a report before the panel saying farmers had to face difficulties in purchase of seeds and fertilisers due to demonetisation.

But the ministry has apparently withdrawn its November 20 report and has now presented a new one before the panel, the opposition members said.

The new report has stated that there was no impact of demonetisation on farmers, they said.

On November 23, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh had denied claims that demonetisation prevented farmers from purchasing seeds.

"There was no ban on purchase of seeds with the (scrapped) Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes. In the year before demonetisation, 308 lakh tonnes of seed was bought by farmers, while it reached 348 lakh tonnes during the year in which demonetisation was implemented," Singh had said.