Andhra has the highest average farm household debt, followed by Kerala, Punjab
Half of India’s agricultural households (50.2%) have an outstanding loan as per the findings of the ‘Situation Assessment of Agricultural Households and Land and Livestock Holdings of Households in Rural India (SAS), 2019’ survey conducted by the National Statistical Office (NSO). According to the survey, the average debt per agricultural household is Rs 74,121.
Andhra Pradesh has highest average debt per agricultural household followed by Kerala and Punjab. As per the SAS 2019 survey, average amount of outstanding loan per agricultural household in Andhra Pradesh in 2019 was Rs 2,45,554. A total of 93.2% of the agricultural households in the state were under debt.
Kerala had average amount of outstanding loan per agricultural household at Rs 2,42,482 while 69.9% of its farm households were under debt. In Punjab, the average outstanding loan per agricultural household was Rs 2,03,249 and 54.4% of its farming families were under debt.
As per the survey, northeast states of Nagaland, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh had the lowest average amount of outstanding loan per agricultural household. Nagaland had the lowest average amount of outstanding loan per agricultural household at Rs 1,750. Only 6% of the farm households in the state were indebted.
Meghalaya had an outstanding loan per agricultural household at Rs 2,237 with 9.1% of its farming households under debt. The average amount of outstanding loan per agricultural household in Arunachal Pradesh was Rs 3,581 and 12.5% of its farming households were indebted.
Highlights of indebtedness of farming households
- Percentage of indebted agricultural households: 50.2%
- Average amount of outstanding loan per agricultural household: Rs 74,121
- 6 % of the outstanding loans were taken from institutional sources (bank, cooperative society and government etc.)
- 5 % of the loans were from agricultural/professional moneylender
- 5% of loans were taken for agricultural purposes
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