Parliament Question: Loan waivers, write offs and moratoriums to agricultural borrowers

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF FINANCE DEPARTMENT OF FINANCIAL SERVICES RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 399 ANSWERED ON TUESDAY, 03rd FEBRUARY, 2026/ 14 MAGHA, 1947 (SAKA) LOAN WAIVERS, WRITE-OFFS AND MORATORIUMS TO AGRICULTURAL BORROWERS 399 SHRI PRAMOD TIWARI: Will the Minister of FINANCE be pleased to state: a) the details of loan waivers, write offs and moratoriums extended by the Scheduled Commercial Banks to agricultural borrowers affected by climate related disasters during the last five years, State-wise; b) the adequacy and timeliness of these relief measures; c) the details of farmers and agricultural labourers died by suicides during the said period due to bankruptcy or indebtedness; and d) the measures taken by Government to deal with ongoing agrarian crisis and increase availability of institutional credit to farmers? ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE (SHRI PANKAJ CHAUDHARY) (a) to (b) The Government has taken various measures to provide relief to the agricultural borrowers affected by floods, landslides and heavy rainfall. In this regard, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued Master Directions on 17 October 2018 on relief measures by banks in areas affected by natural calamities which inter-alia provides the following: • Cyclone, drought, earthquake, fire, flood, tsunami, hailstorm, landslide, avalanche, cloudburst, pest attack, and cold wave/frost have been recognized as natural calamities. • In the event of natural calamities declared by the State/Central Government, all short-term loans, except those which are overdue at the time of occurrence of natural calamity, shall be eligible for restructuring. • Fresh loans can also be sanctioned by banks to affected borrowers. • Agricultural term loan instalments shall also be rescheduled keeping in view the repaying capacity of the borrower and the nature of natural calamity. • The restructured portion of the short term as well as long-term loans may be treated as current dues and need not be classified as Non-Performing Assets (NPA). As reported by RBI, state-wise data on relief measures i.e., (i) restructured/rescheduled advances and (ii) fresh finance/relending extended by Scheduled Commercial Banks on account of natural calamities, during the period from January 2020 to December 2025, is given at Annexure-I and Annexure-II respectively.The year-wise loans written-off in Agriculture and Allied Activities sector by Scheduled Commercial Banks (excluding RRBs and Payment Banks) are as under: Financial Year Amount 2020-21 14,483 2021-22 15,222 2022-23 23,852 2023-24 24,426 2024-25 21,882 2025-26* 14,122 (Amount in Rs Crore) Source: RBI *: Provisional data for FY 2025-26 as on 30.09.2025 The Government in coordination with various stakeholders viz., State Level Bankers’ Committee (SLBC), RBI, National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), Banks, State/Central Government departments etc. makes efforts to extend adequate relief measures to the affected borrowers within best possible timelines. (c) As reported by Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) under the Ministry of Home Affairs compiles and disseminates information on suicides in its publication titled ‘Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India’ (ADSI). The report till 2023 is available on NCRB website (https://ncrb.gov.in). However, the ADSI reports do not provide any assessment regarding the link between escalating farm indebtedness, bankruptcy and agrarian suicides. The reasons for suicides are wide ranging and not detailed in the report. (d) As informed by Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, the Government has implemented structured long-term measures to economically empower farmers. These initiatives include direct cash benefit schemes (Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi), crop insurance (Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana), Krishonnati Yojana, Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) etc. Further, the Government has taken several measures to increase availability of institutional credit to farmers which inter-alia include fixing of annual Ground Level Agriculture Credit (GLC) target to banks, Priority Sector Lending (PSL) targets to banks, access to affordable credit through Kisan Credit Card (KCC/ Modified Interest Subvention Scheme (MISS), Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF), Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY), Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund (AHIDF) etc. *****Annexure-I referred to in part (a) to (b) of Rajya Sabha Un-Starred Question no. 399 on “Loan waivers, write-offs and moratoriums to agricultural borrowers" answered on 03.02.2026 Data on Relief measures (Restructured/Rescheduled) extended by banks on account of natural calamities (Number of Accounts in Actuals and Amount in Rs crore) 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025* Sl. Name of the No. of No. of No. of No. of No. of No. of No. State Amt. Amt. Amt. Amt. Amt. Amt. A/cs A/cs A/cs A/cs A/cs A/cs 1 Andhra Pradesh 48 2.72 - - - - - - 11,764 811.86 - - 2 Assam - - - - 2,88,370 851.3 - - - - - - Himachal 3 - - - - - - 7,388 975.03 - - 6251 1151.09 Pradesh Jammu & 4 1,11,597 622.51 - - - - - - - - 582 138.86 Kashmir 5 Jharkhand - - - - 751 11.03 - - - - - - 6 Karnataka 11,393 436.61 17,433 1357.4 - - 15,675 254.9 21,605 448.95 - - 7 Kerala - - - - 23,000 233.5 - - 27 1.12 16 0.7 8 Ladakh - - - - - - - - - - 208 199.62 9 Maharashtra 1,34,657 1875.02 23,000 791.22 4,123 204.96 1,359 21.88 - - - - 10 Manipur - - - - - - 34,879 1,189.97 35,888 1,247.10 18,294 219.3 11 Sikkim - - - - - - 34 7.99 35 16.87 - - 12 Tamil Nadu - - - - - - - - 5,214 468.14 8 191.81 13 West Bengal - - 13 0.10 - - - - - - - - Source: Report submitted by State Level Bankers Committees(SLBC) through Regional Offices of RBI for SCBs, including RRBs. *: 2025 data is till December 2025.Annexure-II referred to in part (a) to (b) of Rajya Sabha Un-Starred Question no. 399 on “Loan waivers, write-offs and moratoriums to agricultural borrowers” answered on 03.02.2026 Data on Relief measures (Fresh finance/Relending provided) extended by banks on account of natural calamities (Number of Accounts in Actuals and Amount in Rs crore) 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025* Sl. Name of the No. of No. of No. of No. of No. of No. of No. State Amt. Amt. Amt. Amt. Amt. Amt. A/cs A/cs A/cs A/cs A/cs A/cs Andhra 1 - - - - - - - - - - Pradesh 11,834 65.66 2 Assam - - - - 3,011 26.6 - - - - - - Himachal 3 - - - - - - - - 291 7.65 Pradesh 317 3.59 Jammu & 4 - - - - - - - - 7 0.30 Kashmir 85,060 418 5 Jharkhand - - - - 20,312 227.90 - - - - - - 6 Karnataka 1,55,493 4174.7 66,588 5,675.91 - - 1 0.12 7,126 344.43 - - 7 Kerala - - - - - - - - 8 0.14 94 0.81 8 Ladakh - - - - - - - - - - 15 3.93 9 Maharashtra 10,15,619 8,537.46 4,310 232.99 1,861 57.92 - - - - - - 10 Manipur - - - - - - 866 20.9 865 20.94 962 25.02 11 Rajasthan - - 119.5 48 - - - - - - - - 12 Sikkim - - - - - - 5 0.49 1 0.1 - - 13 Tamil Nadu - - - - - - - - 12,939 402.46 11 31.08 14 Tripura - - - - - - - - 28,490 1,529.12 - - Source: Report submitted by State Level Bankers Committees(SLBC) through Regional Offices of RBI for SCBs, including RRBs. *: 2025 data is till December 2025.