SBI to provide credit cards to farmers

To deepen the credit culture among the farming community of the country, its largest lender State Bank of India will provide credit cards to the farmers through its subsidiary SBI Cards and Payments Services, its chairman Rajnish Kumar said today.
He said the project had been taken up on a pilot basis in Gujarat, Rajshthan and Madhya Pradesh, and then would be launched across the country depending on its success.
Unlike the Kisan Credit Card (KCC), the SBI card would provide 40 days credit to the farmers and the rate of interest charged would be normal as other SBI cards, Kumar said.

The big difference was that the penalties charged in case of non-payment of due would be comparatively lower than the normal SBI cards, he told reporters at a launch event here.
He said the farmers would be allowed to spend 20 per cent of the credit limit on consumer items and the balance only on buying agricultural inputs.
Kumar said that in the case of KCC any loan taken taken by the farmer would be instantly debited from the account, where SBI cards would provide 40 days credit.
Launching the Poorti FarmCart and DealerBandhu apps here today, he said e-commerce should be widely used in the agriculture sector.

SBI would provide the payment gateway for making purchases through the apps, he added.