Delhi, December 6, 2024 (Navroze Bureau) – The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has taken a big step to provide relief to farmers. Now farmers will be able to take a loan of up to Rs 2 lakh from the bank without any guarantee. Earlier this limit was Rs 1.6 lakh. RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said during the monetary policy review on Wednesday that this decision has been taken keeping in mind inflation and the rising cost of agricultural raw materials. The aim of this step is to empower farmers financially and meet their financial needs.
Small farmers will benefit the most
Das said that this will increase the scope of small and marginal farmers to take loans from banks. It is worth mentioning that in 2010, RBI had set a limit of Rs 1 lakh to give to the agriculture sector without any guarantee. Later in 2019, it was increased to Rs 1.6 lakh. RBI said that a circular will be issued soon in this regard.
growth rate forecast lowered
RBI on Friday did not change the policy rate repo for the 11th consecutive time in the fifth bi-monthly monetary policy review of the current financial year and maintained it at 6.5 percent. Along with this, RBI has reduced the economic growth rate forecast from 7.2 percent to 6.6 percent in view of the current situation. RBI has increased the retail inflation forecast to 4.5 percent to 4.8 percent in the current financial year. RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das gave information about these decisions taken in the three-day meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) which started on Wednesday.