Farm loan write-offs: One more thing for banks to worry about?

……….According to a Macquarie report, agri-loans contributed 44 percent to the incremental non-performing loans last year. They have made banks extremely wary of lending to the sector — credit to agriculture climbed by 6.3 percent in January 2012, down from 21.5 percent the previous year, according to Reserve Bank of India data. The banks that have the largest share of agri-loans in their portfolios and, therefore, more vulnerable are State Bank of India (15 percent), Canara Bank, PNB, Union Bank and Bank of Baroda (14 percent each), and Bank of India (13 percent).…………

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