The Reserve Bank of India on Tuesday has in-principle approved the loan reschedulement/waiver scheme of the Andhra Pradesh Government.

Addressing a press conference, the AP Finance Minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu, Agriculture Minister P Pulla Rao and State Media Advisor Parakala Prabhakar, said that a formal communication on the loan reschedulement/ waiver is expected to be released by the RBI within the next couple of days.

Earlier today, the State Chief minister, N Chandrababu Naidu, who spoke to the RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan, was assured by the latter that RBI would clear the proposal and details would be released through a communication, they said.

“Once we get the communication, we will know what are the conditions laid down and accordingly take up follow up measures and ensure that the farmers’ concerns get addressed. After following up on our proposals for waiver, the RBI had sought information from the State Level Bankers’ Committee. Based on the information, and our proposals, a decision has been taken,” they said.

Focus on Kharif



The immediate focus for the Government is to ensure that the farmers get fresh loans for kharif season and that their existing loans are taken care of. “Our plan is to ensure that they do not suffer due to financial burden,” the Finance Minister explained.

A committee formed by the Government to work out the modalities of loan-waiver under the chairmanship of ex-Nabard Chief P Kotaiah on Tuesday met RBI Governor to convince him about the need for waiver.

Rescheduling not final



However, bankers are non-committal on the rescheduling. When contacted, a top official of State Level Bankers Committee (SLBC) told Business Line,“Reserve Bank of India has not taken a final decision. Probably it might have indicated to the Government that it would consider.”

“We will have to wait and see and act according to the guidelines to be issued by the apex bank,” he added.

The total priority sector advances in the State stood at ₹1,37,250 crore as on March 2014 out of which agricultural advances were ₹87,612 crore, as per SLBC data.

The total amount of crop loans rescheduled during 2009-10 to 2011-12 on account of natural calamities stood at ₹8,302 crore.