SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir has seen agricultural loans worth over Rs 620 crore restructured and fresh finance of more than Rs 418 crore extended since 2020 after floods, landslides and heavy rainfall, placing the Union Territory among the most affected regions seeking banking relief due to climate related disasters, official data tabled in Parliament shows.
According to figures placed before the Lok Sabha by the Ministry of Finance, Scheduled Commercial Banks restructured or rescheduled loans of 1,11,597 agricultural borrowers in Jammu and Kashmir in 2020 alone, involving an amount of Rs 622.51 crore. In the same year, banks also extended fresh finance or relending to 85,060 agricultural accounts in the Union Territory, amounting to Rs 418 crore. Notably, the data shows no further restructuring or fresh finance reported for Jammu and Kashmir between 2021 and June 2025, raising questions about the continuity and adequacy of relief despite recurring weather extremes in the region.
The information was provided in response to a starred question in the Lok Sabha on loan waivers, write offs and moratoriums granted to farmers affected by natural calamities since 2020. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told the House that relief measures are guided by Reserve Bank of India master directions issued in October 2018, which allow restructuring of short term and long term agricultural loans in areas officially declared as affected by natural calamities.
These directions recognise floods, landslides, cloudbursts, avalanches and other extreme events as natural calamities, and permit rescheduling of repayments, sanctioning of fresh loans and protection of restructured loans from being classified as non performing assets. However, the state wise data suggests that the actual reach of these measures has been uneven over the years.
While Jammu and Kashmir reported significant relief in 2020, several other states recorded large scale restructuring in subsequent years. Maharashtra, for instance, saw over Rs 1,875 crore restructured in 2020 and continued relief in the following years, while Manipur reported more than Rs 1,247 crore restructured in 2024 alone. Assam and Himachal Pradesh also figured prominently in later years following floods and landslides.
On fresh finance, Maharashtra again topped the list with over Rs 8,537 crore extended to more than 10 lakh accounts in 2020, while Karnataka saw fresh lending exceeding Rs 4,174 crore in the same year. In contrast, Jammu and Kashmir’s fresh finance was confined to 2020, despite the Union Territory facing repeated episodes of floods, heavy snowfall and landslides in recent years.
The statement also disclosed that banks across the country wrote off substantial agricultural loans during the period. Loan write offs in the agriculture and allied activities sector stood at Rs 14,483 crore in 2020 to 21, rising to a peak of Rs 24,426 crore in 2023 to 24, before declining to a provisional Rs 14,122 crore in 2025 to 26 up to September 30, 25. These write offs exclude regional rural banks and payment banks.
The government maintained that it works with State Level Bankers Committees, RBI, National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development and state governments to ensure timely and adequate relief to affected borrowers. However, the absence of reported restructuring or fresh lending for Jammu and Kashmir after 2020 is likely to invite scrutiny, particularly as climate variability continues to pose serious risks to the region’s largely fragile and weather dependent agricultural economy.
