Maharashtra is grappling with an escalating drought crisis, with 305 talukas now declared drought-hit, prompting the state government to announce Rs 5,000 in financial aid for farmers before Diwali and extend comprehensive relief measures.
The Maharashtra government has cancelled leaves for employees across 11 departments involved in drought management to assess widespread crop damage, particularly affecting soybean. This follows the declaration of drought in 265 talukas and the announcement of relief measures. Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule is on an assessment tour, facing protests from Congress workers demanding immediate farmer relief.
The Maharashtra government has declared 265 out of 358 talukas as drought-affected, covering 74% of the state, due to significant rainfall deficit. This declaration activates 'Trigger-1' of the state's drought management framework, leading to the announcement of various relief measures for farmers and residents, including loan restructuring, revenue concessions, and provisions for water and fodder.
'Without that one critical irrigation, the entire crop can be lost.'
That apart, farmers will get loans for post-harvest storage of their produce at a subsidised interest rate of 7 per cent for six months.
Axis Bank reported a sharp drop in net profit in the second quarter of financial year 2026 (Q2FY26) on higher provisions and weak operating profit growth while revenue growth was moderate. But loan growth and deposit growth improved to double-digits year-on-year (Y-o-Y) and asset quality also improved with the gross non-performing loan or NPL ratio moving down.
The RBI said that the impact of unseasonal rains is still unfolding.
The government has made its flagship crop insurance schemes voluntary for farmers with existing crop loans or those willing to take new ones, as it seeks to address the concerns raised by farmers' body and states in implementation of these programmes. "The Union Cabinet has approved the revamping of 'Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY)' and 'Restructured Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (RWBCIS)' to address the existing challenges in implementation of crop insurance schemes," an official statement said.
Making the announcement, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said this was the "biggest" loan waiver scheme in the country.
Since the bankcuptcy law came into effect from December 2016, with every quarter, the recovery rate has progressively been going down, notes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
If a holiday, banks will have to report the details on the next working day.
It also chided Gujarat for not filing an affidavit on the matter, saying "just because you're Gujarat doesn't mean you can do whatever you like."
Generally, a district collector declares crops in his area as being affected due to a catastrophe, which automatically triggers favourable treatment of bank loans, under which the affected dud loans are not treated as bad loans, Rajan said.
The chairman of mortgage giant HDFC Ltd in his annual letter to shareholders, also suggested a one-time restructuring of real estate loans, easing of external commercial borrowing rules and immediate changes in regulations to allow end-to-end execution of housing loans online.
The Maharashtra government is pushing hard to get a Rs 4,500-crore financial package from Centre, reports Sanjay Jog
The Central Vigilance Committee has sought loan data from United Bank
Harassment, corruption and the burden of compound interest for years are also the reasons.
Indeed, there were frauds, and the politician-banker-industrialist nexus played a role in the rise of NPAs, but governance issues in Indian banking are far more nuanced and complex, reveals Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
New SDR norms allow promoters to manage debt-laden firms.
Farmers have suffered a lot on account of natural calamities.
Drought fears will subside if the momentum generated is maintained in August.
Monsoon is expected to cover central and eastern India after Tuesday.
Check out some of the stocks that will react on the basis of their numbers in the near term.
'What is bank recapitalisation? When the rich take loans and do not return and the government returns that money to the banks.' 'What is restructuring 5:25 scheme? The government says don't return now, just tell us you will return after five years.' 'Why don't we apply these schemes to farmers?' 'I want to increase the power of farmers to blackmail the government as everyone in the country has the power to blackmail.'
'The fundamentals look strong, but we will have to see if they translate into actual demand.' 'Because the April-May marriage season didn't see much sales due to the lockdown.'
The prices of oilseed, coarse cereals & vegetables could also be affected.
Commercial banks are also expected to be soft on loan repayments and restructure the loans, if not write them off.
Once these banks start showing losses, they will not be able to pay dividends to the government nor pay taxes, which will further aggravate the situation for the government as its return on investment as an investor would be very negligible for the next few years, says M V Subramanian.
This time, the global appetite for risk is in favour of India.
he government is examining a plan of bank recapitalisation and considering an urban version of MNREGS.
State Bank of India (SBI) chairman Rajnish Kumar, in conversation with Abhijit Lele, also says that the overhang of corporate debt stress will begin to recede in the next two-three quarters.
As the NDA government completes two years in office, there are more questions on Swarupa Dutt's mind than answers.
Party chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said it will introspect on the reasons for the loss in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand and will re-dedicate itself to strengthening the party and being the watchdog of people.
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In an hour-long chat on rediff.com on Friday, A K Prabhakar, senior VP and Head -- Equity Research (Retail), Anand Rathi Financial Services Ltd, discussed the best stocks to put the investors' money in.
