RBI panel pitches for federal body like GST Council in farm sector

An RBI panel on Friday suggested setting up of a federal body on the lines of the GST Council to implement reforms and boost credit flow in the agriculture sector, besides pitching for direct transfer of subsidy and no farm loan waivers.

Among other recommendations, the panel said banks should develop a management information system (MIS) to flag loans sanctioned against gold as collateral in core banking solution (CBS) platform for effective monitoring of end use of funds.

In February this year, the RBI had set up the 'Internal Working Group' to understand the reasons for regional disparity and other agricultural credit related aspects and suggest workable solutions to address constraints in accessing institutional agricultural credit.

Recommending solutions to improve farm credit flow, the panel said, "Government of India (GoI) should set up a federal institution, on the lines of GST Council, having participation from both the Centre as well as the states to suggest and implement ...