Mumbai: Presenting the 2026-27 budget Friday, the Maharashtra government announced a farm loan waiver of up to Rs two lakh under the Punyashlok Ahilyadevi Holkar Shetkari Karjamafi Yojana, fulfilling a poll promise of the Mahayuti government.
The nature of the farm loan waiver will be decided in due course as the government is still gathering information on beneficiaries, CM Devendra Fadnavis informed while presenting the budget. To ease agri-distress, he announced an outlay of approximately Rs 20,000 crore or more.
Under the scheme, farmers with outstanding crop loans, as of 30 September 2025, will be eligible for a loan waiver of up to Rs two lakh, while those who have regularly paid their loans will receive Rs 50,000. Fadnavis estimated that together, the loan waiver and incentive could burden the treasury by up to Rs 35,000 crore.
“Our idea is to give the benefit to as many farmers as possible, and we are still gathering information. So, we have all the information and data; we will pass on the exact details of the scheme,” the CM said at a press conference after the budget presentation.
The government will also ensure the use of Artificial Intelligence and digital farming via the Agristack platform—a federated registry of all farmers, compiled by states—as recommended by a high-level committee. It is expected to help strengthen the banking system, making farmers permanently debt-free.
This will be the fourth farm loan waiver in Maharashtra since 2008 and the second to be implemented under CM Fadnavis.
Cooperation Minister Babasaheb Patil told the assembly in a written reply last Friday that about six lakh farmers—beneficiaries of the first farm loan waiver announced by Fadnavis in 2017—are still waiting for their benefits. He had said that of the roughly 50 lakh farmers eligible for the loan waiver under the 2017 scheme, only 44 lakh had received the benefit.
“Loan waiver for a few people had not been done, but when we asked them to reapply, only 15 to 20 percent of them did; we checked, and gave them the loan waiver,” Fadnavis said Friday.
Agristack and farm waiver
According to Fadnavis, the government is still gathering data related to farmers and hopes the process will be completed over the next 15 to 20 days. The information gathered so far reveals that 28-30 lakh farmers could benefit from the scheme, Fadnavis told the media.
“In the next 15-20 days, things will be much clearer. Regarding the nature of the loan waiver—whether it will be for marginal farmers, small farmers, or large—this will be decided once we have the entire data with us. But let me assure you that this will not be a restrictive loan waiver,” Fadnavis said.
He added that the government would use AI in agriculture, and that over 30 lakh farmers had been receiving accurate information on weather forecasts, crop advice, and market prices on the MahaVistaar platform. “This is a true ‘Digital Companion’ for farmers,” Fadnavis said, while presenting the budget.
The government has also started the Vasudha voice service for farmers who do not have a smartphone. Farmers using it get advice on crop health and pest management over phone calls.
The Agristack scheme is being implemented in Maharashtra to deliver the benefits of various government schemes to farmers quickly and transparently using data and digital services. The CM informed that the state is a leader in issuing farmer ID cards.
As of February, 1 crore 31 lakh farmer IDs had been created. “…we are creating Agristack and Aadhar authenticated IDs, which might take some time, but once this architecture is ready, real farmers can get the benefits,” Fadnavis said, adding that the same would help avoid dubious accounts.
Another key announcement Friday was the free electricity scheme for farmers—also a Mahayuti poll promise—with Rs 20,000 crore allocated for it.
For women, the Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana, which provides a monthly stipend of Rs 1,500 to women aged 21–65 from economically weaker sections, will continue. However, Fadnavis did not mention the outlay for the year in his budget speech.
In response to ThePrint’s question at a press conference later, he said it would be like last year. Last year, the outlay was Rs 36,000 crore. Fadnavis, however, did not give any details on the vetting process the government will apply to remove dubious beneficiaries.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)