The Maharashtra Cabinet on Tuesday approved a farm debt relief scheme to provide loan waivers of up to Rs 2 lakh to farmers in the state.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had announced the scheme, named Punyashlok Ahilyadevi Holkar Shetkari Karjamukti Yojana, while presenting the state Budget in March. The Rs 36,585-crore scheme is expected to benefit around 55.72 lakh farmers.

It has three components: loan waiver, one-time settlement and incentive benefits for the farmers who have repaid their loans on time.

Under the first component, farmers with outstanding crop loans of up to Rs 2 lakh that remained overdue on September 30, 2025, and unpaid by March 31 this year will get a complete waiver.

This would apply to one or more loan accounts and farmers can avail the scheme irrespective of their landholding size.

The one-time settlement component will cover farmers with crop debts above Rs 2 lakh. They will be given a grace period till March 31, 2027, to pay the amount exceeding Rs 2 lakh. Once that is done, the government will waive up to Rs 2 lakh in debt.

Under the last component, the government will incentivise farmers who have repaid their loans on time by giving them a grant of Rs 50,000.

Farmers who have taken crop loans in any two of the three financial years – 2022-’23, 2023-’24 and 2024-’25 – and repaid them within the prescribed timelines will be eligible for this.

They will also be required to repay any crop loan taken during the current financial year on schedule.

Farmers who had benefited from the 2019 Mahatma Jyotirao Phule Farmer Debt Waiver Scheme and subsequently defaulted on fresh crop loans will also be eligible for a waiver of up to Rs 50,000, if their dues remain outstanding as of September 30, 2025, and unpaid by March 31, 2026.

Elected representatives, government employees, persons paying income tax, and officers and employees of cooperative societies with a salary of more than Rs 25,000 have been kept out of the scheme.

‘Ladki Bahin scheme to continue’

Meanwhile, Fadnavis also announced on Tuesday that the Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin scheme will continue.

“Women who fulfill the eligibility criteria of the scheme will continue to receive the benefits of the scheme on a regular basis,” he told reporters.

The scheme, launched in June 2024, provides a monthly transfer of Rs 1,500 to women aged 21 to 65 whose families earn less than Rs 2.5 lakh per year.

Fadnavis’ statement came in the wake of criticism from Opposition parties after reports emerged that about 80 lakh women were found to be ineligible for the scheme after a state-wide verification exercise.

The number of beneficiaries of the scheme dropped from 2.4 crore to nearly 1.7 crore at the end of the April 30 deadline for them to complete an e-KYC, or Know Your Customer, process.

Opposition leaders had alleged that the state government was reducing the number of beneficiaries owing to a financial crisis.

However, the state government said on Monday that the reduction in the number of beneficiaries is due to the mandatory e-KYC verification and eligibility scrutiny process, “and the government has no proposal to discontinue the scheme”.

The Ladki Bahin scheme is said to have played an important role in the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Mahayuti alliance winning 230 seats in the 288-member Assembly in November 2024.

However, the scheme has sparked controversies due to the strain it has placed on the state’s finances.

Written by Sneha. Edited by Neerad Pandharipande.