February 18, 2026 04:04 pm (IST)
Follow us:
Modi urges banks to lend more to impoverished farmers
New Delhi, Apr 2(IBNS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday urged banks to lend more to the debt-ridden farmers to save them from plight and suicides.
He also asked the Reserve Bank of India to come up with a 20 year roadmap for greater access to the formal banking system.
"Can't we ask ourselves how we can make our banking system so strong that no farmer is forced to give up his life just because he can't repay the loan ?" he said at a programme celebrating 80th anniversary of RBI.
The central bank's governor Raghuram Rajan and Finance minister Arun Jaitley were present at the programme.
Modi said he is pained to hear of increased reports of farmers committing suicides after being unable to repay their loans to money lenders.
"As RBI celebrates 80 years, can we think within ourselves that we will expand our banking sector so much that farmers would not have to commit suicide because of the huge debt burden. Can we not dream of this?... I do not believe that by helping the poor, a bank will become insolvent," he said.
Modi said farmers' plight should "shake the conscience" of the banking sector.
"We take them out of poverty, they just need a bit of hand holding,"he said.
The Prime Ministrer said 14 crore people have opened bank accounts since his government launched a major financial inclusion initiative last year.
Support Our Journalism
We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism
IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.
Support objective journalism for a small contribution.
Latest Headlines
L&T Vyoma unveils ‘Sovereign Cloud’ — A game-changer for India’s data security ambitions!
Tue, Feb 17 2026
Ashok Leyland partners with Rajasthan Gramin Bank for providing Vehicle Finance facilities
Tue, Feb 17 2026
Unbelievable! Adani to invest $100 billion to develop sovereign AI infrastructure — Here’s what it means!
Tue, Feb 17 2026
Godrej Enterprises Group supports India’s data centre ambitions with scaled up and green ready solutions
Mon, Feb 16 2026
India AI Impact Summit: NPCI extends ‘UPI One World’ wallet service to international delegates
Mon, Feb 16 2026