Government disburses Rs 18,253 cr to 9.13 cr farmers under PM-KISAN Scheme during lockdown

New Delhi, May 9

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, on Saturday, said Rs 18,253 crore had been disbursed to 9.13 crore farmers under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) Scheme during the ongoing nationwide lockdown.

Under the PM-KISAN scheme, each farmer gets Rs 6,000 in a year in three equal instalments directly in his bank account.

Front-loading the release of the first instalment under the PM-KISAN Scheme was part of the Rs 1.70-lakh crore Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package (PMGKP) announced on March 26 to protect the poor from the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown.

The lockdown was imposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 25 to curb the spread of COVID-19, and since then it has been extended twice.

With regard to further assistance to farmers, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said three crore farm loan borrowers had opted for a three-month moratorium.

“Since March 2020, as many as 9.13 crore farmers have been paid Rs 18,253 crore under the PM-KISAN during the #lockdown. About three crore farmers with agri loans totalling Rs 4,22,113 crore availed the benefit of the 3-month loan moratorium,” Sitharaman said in a tweet.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), on March 27, allowed banks to grant a moratorium on instalments of term loans, scheduled to be paid between March 1 and May 31.

In order to ease the burden on loan borrowers, she said: “PSBs contacted more than 95 per cent of borrowers eligible for emergency credit lines and working capital enhancements between March 20 to May 6. The amount sanctioned jumped to Rs 54,544 crore, more than double the amount two days ago. The number of cases covered more than tripled.”

In an effort to promote rural employment through infra projects, the government has rendered support to states under the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF).

“Support of Rs 4,224 crore was provided to states under the RIDF during March 2020 for promoting rural employment through infra projects. Working capital limit of Rs 6,700 crore has been sanctioned for procurement of agriculture commodities to the state government entities since March 2020,” she said in another tweet.

The RIDF is a pool created by the shortfall of specified priority sector lending of banks. The fund is managed by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) is thus utilised for the development of rural infrastructure in the country.

Domestic commercial banks contribute to the fund to the extent of their shortfall in stipulated priority sector lending to agriculture.

The main objective of the fund is to provide loans to state governments and state-owned corporations to enable them to complete ongoing rural infrastructure projects. PTI