HYDERABAD, India, 18 March 2008 —The Andhra Pradesh government has announced a 16.9-billion-rupee ($419 million) loan waiver for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Backward Classes and Muslims.
The waiver will benefit 4.38 million borrowers, Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy said in the state assembly yesterday. He said the waiver would cover loans not exceeding 100,000 rupees each borrower. “The write-off is part of a positive approach consisting of not only measures to relieve the defaulters of burdensome loan liabilities but also to reorient the respective welfare corporations to cater to more beneficiaries in future,” he said.
Reddy said the affected welfare corporations would be made to maintain their assistance levels by the government supporting them with an additional allocation of 500 million rupees in the form of subsidies.
