Farmers in India are prone to risks arising from uncertainty of nature, which impact their crops and subsequently their income. As a result, they may face liquidity crunch or may not have enough income to meet their personal needs or further farming requirements like buying seeds for subsequent crop season. A personal loan is the most easy and common option available but has its own risks. With the spread of use of tractors in rural areas, loan against tractor, also called tractor refinance, is becoming an attractive and safe option to meet the farmer’s need. So, let us understand the meaning, eligibility and features of tractor refinance in the subsequent paragraphs.
Tractor refinance or loan against tractor is a type of agricultural loan wherein you need to mortgage your tractor to secure a loan. It is different from a new tractor loan or used tractor loan.
In a new tractor loan, you are taking a loan to purchase a new tractor and in a used tractor loan you are taking a loan to buy a pre-owned tractor.
However, in case of a tractor refinance, you are taking a loan after you have paid your earlier tractor loan fully and refinancing it by keeping your tractor as collateral/ security with banks or financial institutions (FIs), including NBFCs. While going for a tractor refinance you must ensure that either you have the original RC and your tractor is hypothecation-free.
Hypothecation is a financial practise wherein you pledge the ownership of your tractor with the FIs or banks until the tractor loan is paid completely. In this process, the hypothecation request with complete loan details is submitted to the regional transport office (RTO). As a result, despite the real ownership being with the banks or FIs, your name with address is mentioned in RC. It means that you will be legally liable for everything related to your tractor. Thus, hypothecation just provides the lender with the right to take custody of your tractor, if you default.
Therefore, you need to have paid your new tractor loan fully and get hypothecation removed from the RC book before applying for a tractor refinance. You can pay your loan completely either through paying the EMIs on time for the while loan tenor.
Knowing the true value of your tractor enables you to get an idea about loan amount you will be sanctioned against your tractor. The essential condition for tractor valuation is a valid RC, which is not older than 15 years. If it is so, get it renewed.
Then, depending upon the brand of your tractor, model, model year and number of hours tractor has operated, the correct tractor value is arrived at.
Now, having arrived at correct value of your tractor, the Loan to Value (LTV) ratio will depend upon your CIBIL score (minimum 580+ and in general above 660), farm size, land holding, crop type, residence type – kuccha or pucca. An insurance of your tractor would be added advantage.
If everything is all right, then a loan amount of up to 75% of your used tractor value is sanctioned and disbursed.
Now, the question is, from where to calculate the value of your tractor? To know the correct and current value of your tractor, you can take the help of Tractor Valuation tool available at Tractorkarvan.
Loan against tractor comes with many features and benefits, if you are taking it from our lending partner TVS Credit. These include:
To sum up, tractor refinance is an attractive and safe option not only for farmers but also for banks. For farmers, it helps them overcome the liquidity crunch and gives them opportunity to invest in prospective farming needs. For lenders, it is devoid of any default risk.