Average debt of agricultural households Increases by nearly 60%

The average debt of agricultural households increased by 57.7% between 2013 and 2018, according to data published by the National Statistical Office (NSO). The livelihood of almost 54% of the rural families is dependent on agriculture.

Rising Debt

The data, parts of which were published by the Indian Express, shows that the national average outstanding loan between July-December 2018 was Rs 74,121, with the agricultural families in Andhra Pradesh shouldering the highest average loan – Rs 2.45 lakh and those in Nagaland being under the lowest debt among all the states – Rs 1,750.

The Indian Express report, quoting NSO data, stated that of the 28 states for which data were available, 11 states had higher average outstanding loans than the national average for the year 2018. These 11 states are Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Punjab, Haryana, Telangana, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. In three states – Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Punjab – the average outstanding loan was over Rs 2 lakh.

Another report on the same data, filed by The Wire, stated that only 69.6% of the outstanding loans were taken from institutional sources like banks, cooperative societies and government agencies, while 20.5% of loans were from professional money lenders. It also stated that between 2013 and 2018 farm income almost doubled from Rs 2,071 to Rs 4,063, mostly on account of higher monthly wages. It further added that, according to the survey, the number of agricultural households in the country was estimated to be Rs 9.3 crore.

Rising Monthly Income

The Wire added that according to the survey by the NSO, which was based on two visits made during January-August 2019 and September-December 2019, the average monthly income per agricultural household during 2018-19 was at Rs 10,218, which was nearly a 60% higher than Rs 6,426 that the agricultural households earned in 2012-13. The calculations were based on the ‘paid out expenses’, in which all out of pocket expenditure incurred for each type of input is taken into account.

A report on the same subject published by the Times of India stated that, according to the NSO data, only four in a hundred agricultural households in India possess over 10 hectares of land and a majority, 70 in 100 agricultural households, possess less than one hectare of land. It added that almost half the agricultural households, 48.5%, owned “cattle” while 27.8% owned buffalo, while as many as 10.7% owned poultry birds, and 21.9% owned bovine and other mammals.