Sluggish agri lending in states with debt waiver scheme

Agriculture lending growth has come down to around 6%, from 16% last year

States which rolled out farm loan waiver schemes in the recent months are witnessing sluggish growth in rural bank lending. Agriculture accounts for more than 80 per cent of lending in rural areas.

Across the country, agriculture lending growth has come down to around 5.8 per cent on a year-on-year basis as on September 2017, as against 15.9 per cent in the same period last financial year. This is one of the steepest fall in agriculture lending by banks in the last few years.

Fall in agriculture lending is also likely to impact food grain production, which is already showing