MUMBAI: Maharashtra cabinet on Tuesday approved a farm loan waiver scheme that will benefit 56 lakh farmers, but deferred its announcement due to the Model Code of Conduct in force for the Legislative Council (MLC) elections.
The Maharashtra government has decided to waive crop loans of up to Rs 2 lakh for eligible farmers. Farmers who are not defaulters will receive an incentive of Rs 50,000. The decision is expected to benefit more than 56 lakh farmers across the state.
Earlier, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had said that his government would take a decision on a farm loan waiver in June 2026. While the cabinet has now approved the proposal, its formal announcement has been put on hold because of the MLC election code of conduct.
According to the cabinet, the scheme will be implemented once the election code of conduct is lifted. There are 65 lakh bank accounts belonging to farmers who have availed crop loans amounting to Rs 36,585 crore. Of these, 56 lakh farmers are eligible under the loan waiver scheme.
Sources said the State Election Commission had advised the government against announcing the decision during the election period.
“The state government had sought advice on whether it could take the decision on a farm loan waiver and make the announcement. However, the State Election Commission conveyed that the government could take the decision, but it could neither announce nor implement it because of the MLC election code of conduct. Therefore, the announcement of the farm loan waiver has been held back until the election code of conduct is over,” said a source in the State Election Commission.
Ajit Nawale, secretary of the All India Kisan Sabha, welcomed the cabinet's decision and said the focus should now be on implementation.
“Now, the important thing is implementation of the farm loan waiver. The state government should ensure that the waived off amount is credited to the banks by the end of June 2026. The reason is that June is the last month to repay crop loans; otherwise, farmers will be added to the defaulter list and will not be eligible for a new loan. Therefore, the farm loan waiver decision has to be executed as early as possible if the state government is keen to help farmers raise loans for the Kharif season,” Nawale said.