No proposal for one-time waiver of loans of small, marginal farmers: MoS Finance

The government has no proposal for a one-time waiver of loans of small and marginal farmers, Parliament was informed on Monday.

To provide relief to borrowers in distress, the Reserve Bank of India has issued Master Direction on Resolution of Stressed Assets, 2025 dated November 28, 2025 (updated as on July 1, 2026) which provides lenders the discretion to undertake financial restructuring of borrowers under stress, based on their Board approved policies and regulatory guidelines, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

"No proposal for one-time waiver of loans of small and marginal farmers is currently under consideration with the Union government," he said in reply to a question whether the government proposes to consider a one-time waiver or restructuring of loans to small and marginal farmers.

Replying to another question, Chaudhary said the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had sent a proposal to the government in terms of Section 25 of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, for introduction of one billion pieces each of Rs 10 and Rs 20 polymer banknotes for field trials and for regular issuance of polymer banknotes in these two denominations after successful completion of field trials.

The proposal has been approved by the government, he said.

RBI had informed that as per international studies, the life span of polymer banknotes is significantly higher than that of paper banknotes, he said.

The introduction of polymer banknotes is currently in a preliminary phase and the impact on digital payments, if any, could be ascertained only after regular issuance of these notes, he said.

Moreover, he said, banknotes and digital payment systems are complementary payment tools available to the public.

"As per RBI, Polymer banknotes are proposed to be issued along with paper substrate-based banknotes and that there is no proposal to replace paper currency with polymer substrate-based banknotes," he said.

In a separate reply, Chaudhary said 5,17,657 guarantee issued to beneficiary enterprises under the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) 5.0 as on July 21, 2026. Amount of guarantee issued stood at Rs 1,90,523.78 crore, he said.