Former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Raghuram Rajan has said that India needs to focus on alleviating farm distress rather than loan waivers which kill the credit culture. He also said that the top priority for the country should be of creating jobs.
Rajan said ‘I would say that one is start creating those jobs people want. Take care of the distress, but whatever measures you put, put them as a pathway for people to get those jobs rather than standing in the way of getting those jobs...We can talk about the economic reforms that are needed, but jobs are task one.’ He also stated that several state governments have announced the farm loan waivers. Referring to the issue of farm distress, he said loan waivers cover only those farmers who have taken loans from the formal system.
Former RBI governor said ‘I do worry about waiving loans because it only targeted to those farmers who have taken loans from the system, not the poorer farmers who have loans from the money lenders or an agricultural worker who never got a loan in the first place. So I would rather have a better-targeted system.’ He also said ‘That is why I have always said that farm loan waivers are problematic and various bankers have also opined that it kills the credit culture. It's very difficult to lend to those people once again. So they also suffer in credit down the line even though they may get some short-run benefit. So those are my objections.’
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