Indian poultry industry gets a breather from bird flu

India has been rattled by bird flu that has shaken the poultry industry over recent weeks. The rescheduling of loans from banks therefore comes as a huge relief to the industry.

While thousands of birds have been destroyed in the bird flu-infected West Bengal, thousands of poultry farmers, mostly in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, have lost huge sums of money due to fallen demand.

This led RBI to inform Chairmen, Managing Directors and Chief Executive Officers of all scheduled commercial banks to give a breather to the poultry industry. It asked the banks to convert principal and interest due (on working capital loans), instalments and interest on term loans due for payment on or after the onset of bird flu into term loans.

“The process may be completed by April 30, 2008,” said G. Srinivsan, Chief General Manager of RBI. “The converted loans may be recovered in instalments based on the projected future inflows over a period up to three years with an initial moratorium of up to one year. The first year of repayment may be fixed after the expiry of this moratorium.”

After conversion, the borrowers would be eligible for fresh need-based finance. The relief would be extended to all accounts of poultry industry, which are classified as ‘standard accounts’ as of the cut-off date.