The Akhila Karnataka Financiers’ Association has blamed the unregistered moneylenders indulging in usury for the spate of farmers’ suicides in the State.
Addressing presspersons here on Saturday, association president K. Jayaram Sooda said the government and the police investigating usury should distinguish between registered moneylenders and the unregistered ones, and not club the two and hold them collectively responsible for the farmers’ suicide. “Registered moneylenders are perturbed by the ongoing police action across the State”, he added.
Mr. Sooda said though more than 800 moneylenders have been taken into custody across the State, not one of them was their member as the registered moneylenders make payments to people in their known circles and to small merchants and traders. “None of us have the wherewithal to extend loans to farmers”, he claimed.
The association said they were perturbed by the police turning the heat on moneylenders as they tend to zero in only on the registered financiers who have an office and a name board. “The unregistered lenders operate underground, adopt strong-arm tactics while recovering loan and they should be targeted and not our members who only take recourse to legal route to recover loans”, he added.
The association said it has 7,000 registered members as on date and the membership had dwindled from around 17,000 in 2004. “We pay taxes apart from a security deposit totalling Rs. 140 crore to the government”, said Mr. Sooda.
Expressing concern over the farmers’ suicides, the association said their rate of interest was fixed at Rs. 16 per cent per annum for unsecured loans and 14 per cent for secured loans. “The financial institutions like banks and cooperative societies cover about 20 per cent of the population while moneylenders operating informally meet the daily requirements of the commoners”, according to the association.
‘Registered moneylenders make payments to people in their known circles and to small merchants and traders, and not to farmers’
