AP govt’s farm loan waiver: How Naidu plans to manage it

If news reports are to be believed, Andhra Pradesh CM-elect Chandrababu Naidu is set to waive off Rs 54,000 crore worth of farm loans. If loans taken by mortgaging gold are also included, then the amount will cross Rs 60,000 crore. However, the state level bank committee made it clear that waiver of gold loans is not possible. Naidu had promised waiver of all farm loans if TDP was voted to power while chief minister-designate of Telangana state, and president of TRS promised farm loan waiver applicable to loans of under Rs 1 lakh. Touted as the single biggest populist measure, sources say it is to be the first on Naidu’s to-do list once takes charge as CM on June 8. Banks are likely to be compensated through state government bonds. Speaking to CNBC-TV18’s Latha Venkatesh and Sonia Shenoy, CVR Rajendran, CMD, Andhra Bank said the lender met both the chief ministers to discuss the modalities of the waiver. He said the waiver will come with certain conditions attached as the Andhra government is fighting a huge deficit and cannot afford to have loan waiver on such a large scale. “Yesterday, Telangana state said that only those agricultural loans availed after June last year that is the cropping season for the last year — June to May — will be waived. It comes to around Rs 12,000 crore for Telangana and about Rs 19,000 crore for AP,” he told the channel.