The Wire Staff
The farm debt per household has increased 57.7% in 2018 compared with data from 2013, according to a survey conducted by the National Statistical Office (NSO). Over 50% of agricultural households in the country were in debt with an average outstanding loan per household at Rs 74,121 in 2018 compared with Rs 47,000 in 2013, the Indian Express reported, adding that it was the highest in Andhra Pradesh at Rs 2.45 lakh and lowest in Nagaland at Rs 1,750.
The survey further points out that only 69.6% of the outstanding loans were taken from institutional sources like banks, cooperative societies and government agencies, while 20.5% of loans were from professional money lenders.
Of the total loan, only 57.5% was taken for agricultural purposes, it added.
The Ministry of Programme Implementation and Statistics on Friday released the Situation Assessment of Agricultural Households and Land Holdings of Households in Rural India, 2019.
An agricultural household is defined as a household receiving more than Rs 4000 as value of produce from agricultural activities and having at least one member self-employed in agriculture either in the principal status or in subsidiary status during the last 365 days. In the 77th round of the NSO survey, entirely agricultural labour households and households receiving income entirely from coastal fishing, the activity of rural artisans and agricultural services were not considered as agricultural households. They were kept outside the scope of the survey.
The information was collected in two visits made during January-August 2019 and September-December 2019. The agricultural year in India begins in July and ends the following June.
The survey said the average monthly income per agricultural household during the agricultural year 2018-19 was at Rs 10,218 – a 59% increase compared with Rs 6,426 in 2012-13. The calculations were based on the ‘paid out expenses’ approach in which all out of pocket expenditure incurred for each type of input is taken into account.
Farm income doubled to 4,063 in 2018-19 compared with Rs 2,071 in 2012-2013, mostly on account of higher monthly wages.
According to the survey, the number of agricultural households in the country was estimated at 9.3 crore with Other Backward Class accounting for 45.8%, Scheduled Castes 15.9%, Scheduled Tribes 14.2% and others 24.1%.
The survey estimates non-agricultural households living in rural areas at 7.93 crores. It also revealed that as much as 83.5% of rural households had less than 1 hectare of land, while only 0.2% possessed land in excess of 10 hectares.
According to the Indian Express, of the 28 states for which data is available, 11 states — Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Punjab, Haryana, Telangana, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh — had a higher average outstanding loan per household than the national average in 2018-19.
The newspaper reported the average outstanding loan per agricultural household was over Rs 2 lakh in three states — Andhra Pradesh (Rs 2.45 lakh), Kerala (Rs 2.42 lakh) and Punjab (Rs 2.02 lakh); over Rs 1 lakh in five states — Haryana (Rs 1.82 lakh), Telangana (Rs 1.52 lakh), Karnataka (Rs 1.26 lakh), Rajasthan (Rs 1.13 lakh) and Tamil Nadu (Rs 1.06 lakh).
(Courtesy: The Wire.)
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Another article in ‘Newsclick’, Rs 59,748 Average Debt in Villages, Rs 1,20,336 in Cities, adds:
About 35% of rural households in rural India were indebted as against 22.4% in urban areas before the pandemic. According to All India Debt & Investment Survey, conducted by the National Statistical Office (NSO), ministry of statistics and programme implementation, during January-December 2019, the average amount of debt among rural households was Rs 59,748 compared to Rs 1,20,336 in urban areas.
More than 50.2% of agricultural households were indebted with the average outstanding loan per household at Rs 74,121 with only 69.6% of the outstanding loans taken from banks, cooperative societies and government agencies, the survey showed. Besides, only 57.5% of the loans was taken for agricultural purposes, showed the survey, earlier conducted in 1972, 1982, 1992, 2003 and 2013.
The share of outstanding cash debt in urban areas from institutional credit agencies was 87% compared to 13% from non-institutional credit agencies, according to the survey.
The average amount of debt in rural areas was Rs 74,460 for cultivator households and Rs 40,432 for non-cultivator households. In urban areas, it was Rs 1,79,765 for self-employed households and Rs 99,353 for other households.
Among the indebted households in rural India, the average amount of debt was Rs 1,70,533 with Rs 1,84,903 for cultivator households and Rs 1,43,557 for non-cultivator households. The average amount of debt was Rs 5,36,861 among indebted households in urban India with Rs 6,52,768 for self-employed households and Rs 4,82,162 for other households.
The survey, conducted in more than 5,940 villages covering 69,455 households and 3,995 blocks covering 47,006 households in the urban sector, also showed the average value of all the physical and financial assets owned per household. Around 99.4% of rural households (100% cultivator households and 98.6% non-cultivator households) reported owning asset (physical or financial) compared to 98% in urban areas (99.7% self-employed households and 97.3% other households).
The average value of asset per household was Rs 15,92,379 in rural India (Rs 22,07,257 for cultivator households and Rs 7,85,063 for non-cultivator households) as against Rs 27,17,081 in urban areas (Rs 41,51,226 for self-employed households and Rs 22,10,707 for other households).
In rural areas, the average value of physical asset per household was Rs 15,19,771 and average value of financial asset was Rs 72,608. In urban India, the average value of physical asset per household was Rs 24,65,277 and average value of financial asset per household was Rs 2,51,804.
