The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), which is monitoring the implementation of the debt waiver scheme for farmers being undertaken by commercial banks in the country, has asked banks to keep the receivables being disbursed by them under the scheme in their sovereign accounts.
Requesting anonymity, a senior RBI official told reporters at the Skoch BFSI summit in Mumbai on Tuesday that, ?If the banks put the receivables under the NPA then the beneficiary farmers will be treated as defaulters and thus the entire purpose of the government will be defeated.?
RBI is looking after the operatives part of the scheme on behalf of commercial banks, whereas it was Nabard which was monitoring the scheme implementation by RRBs and co-operative banks.
?That is the reason why we have asked the banks to keep all such receivables under their sovereign accounts as the money will be coming directly from the government,? said the RBI official.
Also, the RBI has asked the banks to submit the list of farmers eligible for the loan waiver by June 20, so that the scheme could successfully be launched by the month-end. The official confirmed that the Union ministry of finance was keeping a close vigil on the implementation of scheme.
Moreover, the RBI, in consultation with finance ministry officials is trying to prepare a list of frequently asked questions relating to the debt waiver scheme and put the same on its website.