Ranchi: The Jharkhand government has launched several schemes aimed at benefiting farmers. Under these initiatives, no farmer in the state has to pay any interest on KCC (Kisan Credit Card) loans, provided they have paid all their loan installments on time.
In this financial year, the state government has paid ₹8 crore as interest on loans to the banks. The largest payment of ₹6.36 crore has been made to the Jharkhand State Gramin Bank, from which 54,886 farmers had taken KCC loans.
Farmers in the state have taken KCC loans from a total of 12 banks, with the total number of such farmers being 69,073. These farmers have paid their loan installments on time.
KCC Loans Carry 7% Interest
The Kisan Credit Card (KCC) loans carry an interest rate of 7%. Out of this, 3% interest is borne by the central government and another 3% by the state government. Thus, farmers only had to pay 1% interest on the KCC loan. However, the state government found that many farmers did not take KCC loans because they were unable to pay even this 1% interest. Moreover, those who did take the loan struggled to pay the 1% interest. To help farmers and encourage them to take KCC loans, the state government decided to bear this 1% interest as well.
The government decided to waive off all interest on KCC loans, but with the condition that only those farmers who repay their loan installments on time would benefit from this scheme.
In the year 2023-24, around 70,000 farmers from 12 banks claimed ₹8.14 crore in interest on KCC loans, which has been paid by the department.
