Widening the scope of loan waiver
The detailed guidelines for the farmers' loan waiver package expand the scope of the scheme announced in the budget. They also raise the cost to the government by Rs.11,680 crore. In his budget speech, the Finance Minister had estimated that some Rs.60,000 crore would be needed to fund the scheme. While he promised "liquidity' to the banks, he was silent on how they would find the money. Subsequently, it was clarified that the budget will meet the entire cost of the loan waiver over three years.