Press Information Bureau

Government of India

Ministry of Finance

02-August-2011 18:05 IST

An Increase of More than 119 Percent in Agriculture Lending During 2010-11; Agriculture Loans WorthAbout Rs. 4,46,779 Crore Disbursed as Against Target of Rs. 3,75,Ooo Crore

The banks have disbursed agriculture loans worth about Rs. 4,46,779 crore as against the  target of Rs. 3, 75,000 crore fixed by the government for lending to Agriculture sector in 2010-11.  The agency-wise target and achievement made by the lending agencies are given below:

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has reported that the total amount of loan given to priority sector during the year 2009-10 was Rs.11,38,406.35 crore.  The target of Rs.3,75,000 cores was approximately 33% of the total priority sector loans for 2009-10.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Finance, Shri Namo Narain Meena in written reply to an Unstarred Question in Rajya Sabha today.

DSM/PM

Agriculture lending surge: banks exceeded the government target for agricultural credit, raising achievement across lending agencies. Banks collectively disbursed agricultural loans substantially above the government's 2010-11 agricultural lending target, with commercial banks, cooperative banks and regional rural banks each exceeding their assigned targets and producing aggregate disbursements materially higher than projected; the aggregate agricultural lending formed a significant share of priority sector advances, and the target represented approximately one third of total priority sector lending in the preceding year.