Indias ruling Bharatiya Janata party is preparing to waive billions of dollars in farmers loans, as it confronts an upsurge of unrest from angry cultivators who are demanding debt relief and higher prices for agricultural commodities. Six farmers have already been killed in confrontations.
In a note to clients this week, BofA Merrill Lynch predicted nearly $40bn in farmers debts equivalent to around 2 per cent of GDP would be waived before Indias next general election in 2019, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi hopes to secure a renewed mandate for the following five years.
Mr Modi opened the floodgates for a series of costly farm loan write-offs during the recent Uttar Pradesh election campaign, when he promised that the BJP w…
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