New Delhi: The Government of India has decided to launch a campaign with immediate effect and accorded the highest priorityto saturate farmers for financial inclusion under Kisan Credit Cards (KCC). This campaign will be launched through the Financial Institutions including Commercial Banks, Cooperative Banks and Regional Rural Banks in collaboration with the State Governments. The Department of Financial Services has already issued directives to the Financial Institutions under their purview in this regard.( Click here to view the letter)
As per the information available with Govt. of India, there are around 6.95 crore active KCCs. The above coverage had been made possible due to a successful and collaborative efforts made by the State Governments, District administrative machinery and the Financial Institutions. Issuing of KCCs in large numbers have helped in increasing the agriculture credit which has contributed significantly in not only fulfilling the objective of food security for our country but also increasing the farmers income.
However, there are still a large number of farmers who do not have access to institutional credit either because they have not been issued a KCC or the KCC issued earlier inactive due to various reasons other than NPA. The reasons for this gap in coverage include levy of various recurring and non-recurring charges related to processing/ documentation/ledger folio/inspection by the banks, cumbersome procedure adopted by certain banks for sanctioning the credit limits and perceived difficulty in completing the required documentation
Government has taken a major farmer friendly step of extending the benefits of KCC with interest subvention to the farmers engaged in activities related to Animal Husbandry and Fisheries. Farmers already possessing a KCC and involved in activities related to animal husbandry & fisheries can avail an additional sub limit within an overall limit of Rs. three lakh and the interest subvention/prompt repayment incentive will also be applicable within this credit limit. Farmers involved in activities related to animal husbandry & fisheries but not possessing any KCC, will be eligible for issue of a fresh KCC with credit limit upto Rs. two lakhs with applicability of interest subvention/prompt repayment incentive. Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying & Fisheries will shortly be issuing a detailed circular in this regard.
The success of this campaign will depend on collaboration and leadership of the State Government and the District Administration. To make this campaign successful, following strategy will be adopted:-
- The KCC will be issued in a time bound manner from the branch where the farmer is already having an account. In case the eligible farmer is not having any bank account, the same shall be immediately opened in any of the nearby branch of his/her choice within the block.
- The camps for collection of applications can be organized bank wise or village wise. The District Level Bankers Committee will decide the modalities of the camp and the date wise schedule.
- For village wise camps, the field level development and revenue functionaries would be present on the pre designated dates in the concerned village to facilitate filling up forms and providing the necessary documents related to land records. The filled in application forms so collected will be deposited in the bank branch the very next day. The officials from the concerned branches may also be present during these camps.
- If the camps are organized branch wise, the field level functionaries would bring eligible farmers to the concerned bank branches on the designated dates and will ensure issue of required land related documentation to the farmers. In the branches, dedicated desks will be set up for providing appropriate guidance to the farmers, so as to ensure prompt processing and approvals.
- Farmers can avail the option of directly submitting the completed application form with necessary supporting documents to the bank branch for issue of KCC.
- The simplified common application form circulated by Indian Banks Association will be utilized after translation in local language. The IBA’ circular no SB/Cir/AGRI/480 dated 09.06.2016 along with a sample copy of the form is being enclosed.
- Indian Banks Association has also issued an advisory guideline to all the banks to waive the processing, documentation, inspection, ledger folio charges and all other service charges for KCC/crop loans upto to Rs. three lakhs keeping in view the hardship and financial distress of small and marginal farmers. This will enable farmers avail the KCC facility without any additional financial burden A copy of these guidelines is also being enclosed with this letter.
- Eligible farmers will be issued KCCs by the concerned banks within two weeks of the submission of completed application forms.
Since the credit availed to KCC will be eligible for interest subvention support of Govt. of India, the details of Aadhar Card Number of the applicants shall also be captured. State Governments will undertake a detailed review and monitoring of the progress of the campaign. Review will also be undertaken by District Level Bankers Committee as well as State Level Bankers Committee. A separate dashboard for monitoring will become operational shortly to monitor the progress of applications collected and KCC issued against those applications. DLBC will be required to update the progress weekly on the dashboard
