Agri credit recovery effected in Haryana in 2008-09

The agriculture debt waiver and debt relief scheme 2008 has disrupted the recoveries of cooperative and regional rural banks in Haryana. Citing the details from the executive summary of the state focus paper 2009-10 on Haryana prepared by Nabard (National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development) the financial commissioner Cooperation, Government of Haryana, Manik B. Sonawane said that it was an area of concern.

The state focus paper says, "After the announcement/implementation of Agriculture debt Waiver and Debt Relief (ADWDR) Scheme 2008 GoI, the ground level disbursement and recovery were affected adversely. To address the liquidity problem faced by the banks, Nabard has announced liquidity scheme for kharif and Rabi 2008-09 for cooperative banks and Regional Rural banks."

It is pertinent to mention here that due to fall in recoveries (the cooperatives get 35% from the Nabard in the form of refinance and rest they have to mobilise on their own) the credit base of cooperative societies has shrinked and Nabard has sanctioned Rs 500 cr for HSCB (Haryana State Cooperative Bank) and Rs 57.80 cr to HGB (Haryana Gramin Bank) to facilitate these banks for further lending to the eligible farmers, says the state focus paper.

The report also depicted a substaintial fall in the utilization production credit.

The utilisation of production credit in financial year 2008-09 (up to 5 Feb 2009) has been only 48.06 % as compared to 99.89% in 2005-06, 84.60 % in 2006-07 and 97.68% in 2007-08. With only two months left to meet the target it seems unlikely to match the previous years figures.

The state government is already conscious of the likely impact of global recession in the form of falling tax receipts and income from other sources. The bad recoveries in the cooperatives and regional rural banks and underutilisation of agri credit may accentuate the disequlibrium between the demand and supply and effect the income from the agricultural activities.