State Level Banker’s Committee (SLBC) :
The Agriculture finance is supervised and monitor by State Level Banker’s Committee (‘SLBC’) and its decisions are implemented by all banking sector having branches in the state. Every state has its own SLBC and guidelines have been issued to banks to develop agricultural finance.
The SLBC is an inter-institutional forum for co-ordination and joint implementation of development programmes and policies by all the financial
institutions operating in a state. Although SLBC is envisaged as a bankers’ forum, Government officials are also included. The Lead Bank designated as ‘Convenor Bank’. The State Level Banker’s Committee meets once a quarter.
The SLBC of the respective state decides the crop season for each crop, which effectively means the period upto harvesting of the crop raised and
the banks of the respective state have to adhere with the crop season as decided by the SLBC of that respective state. Hence, practically it may occur
that same crop may have different harvesting season in different states as decided by the respective SLBC of those states. In these cases the auditor
needs to verify whether the Banks have the requisite mechanism to map the crop season(s) vis-à-vis the crop season(s) as defined by the SLBC of each state as any discrepancies may have a direct impact on identification of NPAs. Examples: Harvesting Season as defined by SLBC in different states
A. SLBC Rajasthan
*As per RBI guidelines, the SLBC has to determine crop season for each crop so as to decide the NPA norms to be followed in the State for asset classification under Agriculture Advance. Based on the sowing , harvesting period prevailing in the State & looking to the crop pattern, Agro Climatic condition, the Crop season for Kharif & Rabi season was proposed as under, which was unanimously approved by the house
Kharif Crop – April – Dec – Due date of repayment may be fixed 31st March
Rabi Crop – Oct – April – Due date of repayment may be fixed 30th June (*Excerpts from minutes of 108th meeting of SLBC Rajasthan held on 16.03.2011)
B. SLBC Gujarat
Short duration Mono cropping farmers:
|
PARTICULARS
|
KHARIF SEASON
|
RABI / SUMMER
SEASON |
|
Year of sanction of Loan |
2004-05 |
2004-05
|
|
Month of sanction |
April 04 to June 04 |
October 04 to November |
| Season start
|
June -July 04 |
November-December 04 |
|
Harvest Time |
October-November 04 | February-March 05 |
| Due date for Repayment | 31.03.2005 |
30.06.2005 |
|
1st crop season |
June 05 to December
05 |
October 05 to March 06 |
| 2nd crop season | June 06 to December
06 |
October 06 to March 07 |
Short duration Double cropping farmers:
|
PARTICULARS |
KHARIF SEASON | RABI / SUMMER SEASON |
|
Year of sanction of Loan |
2004-05 |
2004-05 |
| Month of sanction | April – June 04 |
October – November 04 |
|
Season start |
June -July 04 |
November-December 04 |
|
October-November 04 |
February-March 04 |
|
|
Due date for Repayment |
31.03.2005 |
30.06.2005 |
|
1 st crop season |
October 04 – March 05 |
June 05 – December 05 |
|
2 nd crop season |
June 05 – December 05 |
October 05 – March 06 |
Two Crops seasons is considered as under:
- If a farmer is growing Crops only in Kharif season and land remains fallow during the rest of the year, two crop season will spread over two years. Similar is the case if crops are grown only in Rabi season by a farmer. In this case, repayment date will be fixed once in a year.
- If the farmer is growing Kharif as well as Rabi crops, two crop seasons will spread over one year period. There will be two repayment dates during one year period.
(* Excerpts from MINUTES OF 119th STATE LEVEL BANKERS’ COMMITTEE MEETING held on Dec 22, 2008 at Dena bank)