Economy News 20th Feb 2008

Economy News 20^th Feb 2008

Govt asks public banks to provide interest-free loans to sugar mills

Central government in New Delhi asked the public sector banks (PSBs) to implement a sugar package involving the provision of interest-free loans to sugar mills and submit a compliance report in the next 10 days.

Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram pointed out that three banks, namely Punjab National Bank, Indian Bank and Indian Overseas Bank, had already implemented the relief package.

Goverment to offer package to address credit needs of farmers:PM

On 15 February 2008, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh while addresing the annual general meeting of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) in New Delhi, said the government will soon come out with a package to address the indebtedness of farmers.

The minister pointed out that the share of agriculture in the GDP has been declining. He added that the importance of this sector for India's economy cannot be minimised this sector as it supports a significant portion of the country's population and also acts as a social safety net.

The package would look into the credit needs of farmers. The minister explained the goverment could not have a situation where 80% of the agri sector is outside the formal financial system and suffers from excessive indebtedness.

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