Farmers to get ATM friendly smart cards |
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Zeebiz Bureau
New Delhi In order to make agricultural credit is easily available to farmers; the government announced on Friday that Kisan Credit Cards (KCCs) would be transformed into smart cards which could be used at ATMs also.
Detailing the steps being proposed by the government for the agriculture sector, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, in his Budget speech, propsed to raise the target for agricultural credit in 2012-13 to Rs 5,75,000 crore - an increase of Rs 1,00,000 crore over the target for the current year.
Importantly, the interest subvention scheme for providing short term crop loans to farmers at 7 percent interest per annum will be continued in 2012-13. And to increase compliance, an additional subvention of 3 percent will be available to farmers who pay up in time.
Moreover, the same interest subvention on post harvest loans up to six months against negotiable warehouse receipt will also be available - to encourage the farmers to keep their produce in warehouses.
With regards to Regional Rural Banks (RRBs), the Finance Minister proposed to allocate Rs 10,000 crore to NABARD for their refinancing. He said that a short term RRB credit Refinance Fund is being set up to enhance the capacity of RRBs to disburse short term crop loans to the small and marginal farmers.
The government also appeared determined to promote agricultural research as a sum of Rs 200 crore has been set aside for the purpose.
The Finance Minister also announced to operationalise a government owned irrigation and water resource finance company to mobilize large resources to fund irrigation projects.
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First Published: Friday, March 16, 2012, 15:43
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