Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Sunday asked the centre to extend the interest subvention to the rescheduled crop loans to help the farmers.

Speaking at the meeting held by finance minster Pranab Mukherjee with chief ministers of southern states and union territories and chiefs of financial institutions in Bangalore on Sunday, he urged the centre to extend interest subvention to the rescheduled crop loans.

Reddy said the steps might be taken to simplify procedures for reschedulement of crop loans, according to a release from the chief minster's office on Sunday night.

The chief minister also suggested constituting a 'Risk Mitigation Fund' for natural calamities with a suitable corpus fund.

Highlighting the initiatives of the state government for the benefit of self-help groups like interest-free loans, Reddy requested Mukherjee to announce interest rates on loans to SHGs on par with farmers in the next budget, the release added.

The subsidy on premium for agricultural crop insurance scheme may be restored to the original level of 50 per cent, he said.

According to the release, the chief minister suggested that necessary steps be initiated to increase credit flow to MSMEs and the banks may accelerate efforts to supplement government's initiatives to cover all BPL families in the housing schemes.