According to Agriculture Minister GR Anil, there are no longer any financial barriers to purchasing paddy. When a paddy procurement receipt is presented to the bank, the sum is handed to the farmer as a loan, which is then repaid to the bank through Supplyco.
Legal counsel has advised banks that there are no obstacles to extending further loans to Supplyco.
Supplyco has procured paddy worth Rs 1,109 crore as of Thursday, with Rs 702 crore already given to farmers and Rs 406 crore still remaining.
The second round of harvesting is nearing finished, and procurement may require an extra Rs 1,000 crore. The union government has already paid Rs 350 crore in two installments, but the state government has yet to pay its Rs 750 crore part.
Previously, a consortium of banks offered a loan of Rs 2,500 crore for purchase, with 90% of it recorded as payback of old loans on the banks' books.
Kerala Bank has also approved a loan of Rs 200 crore to cover arrears from the first phase, but Supplyco had already exceeded its lending limit at the time.
The Kerala State Civil Supplies Corporation Limited, also known as "SUPPLYCO," is a government-owned business with its main office in Ernakulam, India. It serves as the Department of Food and Civil Supplies of the Government of Kerala's execution branch.
