Express News Service
NEW DELHI: Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka amd Kerala lead the list of states where average amount of outstanding loan per agricultural household is high. While the national average of loan per agricultural household is Rs 74,121, the corresponding number in Andhra Pradesh and Kerala is Rs 2.45 lakh and Rs 2.42 lakh.
An NSS report on ‘Situation Assessment of Agricultural Households and Land and Livestock Holdings of Households in Rural India, 2019’ showed that agricultural households in southern states have large amount of outstanding debt, compared with other big states. Average debt in Telangana and Karnataka is Rs 1.52 lakh and Rs 1.26 lakh, which is far more than the national average.
On the other hand, average debt per agricultural households in states like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Bihar is Rs 51,107, Rs 74,420, Rs 82,085, Rs 26,452 and Rs 23,534, respectively. A look at the data discloses that southern states also have larger share of farmers in debt. For instance, percentage of indebted agricultural households in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana is 93.2 and 91.7, as against the national average of 50.2%. Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala also have higher number of indebted farmers — 65.1%, 67.6% and 69.9%.
Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh have 41.9% and 48.4% of indebted farmers which is below the national average. The report released by the ministry of statistics last week shows institutional sources alone could not meet the credit requirements of the farmers and a large number of households are still dependent on non-institutional sources for loans. These non-institutional sources include professional money lenders, landlords or agricultural money lenders, relatives and friends and chit-fund market commission agents.
On the source of loans, the NSS report said nearly 69.6% of outstanding loans were taken from institutional sources like banks, cooperative societies and government agencies, while remaining 30.4% were from non-institutional sources. The report also discloses that a majority of farmers in the country have less than one hectare of land.
Source of loansThe NSS report said that nearly 69.6% of outstanding loans were taken from institutional sources like banks, cooperative societies and government agencies, while remaining 30.4% were from non-institutional sources.
