New Delhi, March 18: The government today said farm loans taken through kisan credit cards would be covered under the Rs 60,000-crore loan waiver scheme announced in Budget 2008-09.

“The loan waiver scheme will be applicable to production credit and short-term inventory credit taken on the kisan credit card,” Pawan Kumar Bansal, minister of state for finance, said in the Rajya Sabha today.

A loan of around Rs 47 lakh was extended to farmers through the issue of 85.11 lakh kisan credit cards in 2006-07.

Finance minister P. Chidambaram had announced a complete loan waiver for small and marginal farmers with land holdings of up to two hectares in his budget speech. He had proposed a one-time settlement for other farmers, with the government giving a rebate of 25 per cent if a farmer pays 75 per cent of the loan overdue.