HYDERABAD: Telangana government today released the State Credit Plan for 2014-15 with a total outlay of Rs 63,047 crore, a 14.40 per cent increase from Rs 55,113 crore in the last fiscal.

The plan was unveiled by Chief Secretary Rajiv Sharma at a meeting of the 2nd State Level Bankers Committee (SLBC) here this evening.
Of the total outlay, the lion’s share of Rs 27,233 crore will go to the agriculture and allied sectors, including Rs 18,717 crore towards crop loans even as the state government and banks are locked in a tiff over the proposed waiver of farm loans taken till the last season.

He said the Government was working on “modalities” for rescheduling/waiver of farm loans and wanted the bankers to start disbursing fresh credit to the distressed farmers.

With the Reserve Bank insisting there was no valid ground for rescheduling of crop loans, as a precursor to the proposed waiver which the Government promised to undertake, Sharma contended that the farmers “suffered a lot” in the last few years because of which the waiver was promised.

“Only because of the transition, on account of the State’s bifurcation, details related to crop losses suffered by farmers could not be properly given to the banks.

Also, the previous Government did not seek rescheduling of loans because of this transition,” he pointed out, and made a case for rescheduling of all farm loans.

Even during the ongoing season, rainfall “eluded us”, forcing farmers in Telangana to incur extra costs for cultivation as agriculture in the State was largely rain-fed, the top bureaucrat noted.

“We (Government and banks) have to see that the farmer is not put to additional adversity and hence ensure timely availability of (fresh) credit.”

He said the government is planning to consolidate agriculture holdings in the new State as currently there were only small holdings which were posing problems to farming.

Hailing bankers for increasing the credit flow outlay and also surpassing set targets, Sharma said effectiveness of credit would certainly improve all sectors.

He welcomed the “good emphasis” by banks to the small and medium enterprises sector in the credit plan with an outlay of Rs 6,588 crore.