Agriculture Minister Ajit Singh called for immediate steps to improve credit availability to the agriculture sector on Wednesday.Ajit Singh, who was addressing the 56th meeting of the General Council of the National Co-operative Development Corporation here, expressed his “grave concern” over the state of co-operative banks. He said action was needed to deal with the situation. Representatives from the co-operative sector criticised the finance ministry’s policy on interest rates. The minister observed: “The rate of interest at which credit is disbursed to farmers is a very big issue. It is a serious problem. Inputs costs have risen when funds available for the sector are less.” Singh said the issue will be taken up with the finmin. The FM’s proposal a 2 per cent band above and below the prime lending rate for loans below Rs 2 lakh may give flexibility to the bankers.
