Telangana govt. likely to credit Rythu Bharosa aid into farmers’ accounts soon

The State government is likely to credit funds under Rythu Bharosa, the farmers’ investment support scheme, into the accounts of more than 70 lakh farmers soon.

Crediting of the funds has been delayed by a few weeks this season due to various reasons, including the non completion of survey to assess the exact extent of land under cultivation. With the survey reportedly completed, Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy recently announced at a public meeting that crediting of the amounts will start immediately after the ongoing elections to urban local bodies. Polling for seven municipal corporations and 116 municipalities will be held on February 11 and results of the polls will be declared on February 13.

With the dates for completion of the poll process approaching fast, the government had initiated the process for mobilising the required funds to the tune of ₹9,000 crore for Rythu Bharosa through open market borrowings. The government has submitted an indent with the Reserve Bank of India to raise ₹9,000 crore during the auction of securities to be taken up on Tuesday.

Of the total amount, the largest being raised in recent years, the government decided to raise ₹2,000 crore each with a tenure of 13 and 16 years and ₹2,500 crore each with a tenure of 21 and 27 years, respectively. The development follows the permission accorded to the State government to raise ₹71,400 crore for the current fiscal, up 17,000 crore from the ₹54,009 crore permitted earlier in the year.

The additional borrowings were permitted after the State opted for swapping of high-interest loans with low-interest ones, as could be seen with the repayment of ₹26,000 crore carrying interest of around 11% with loans bearing interest of around 7%, resulting in a saving of burden on the exchequer.