The number of farmers getting farm loans this fiscal would be more given the fact that NABARD has decided to cover 9.4 mn more farmers for the same.

This move has been taken by NABARD on account of increased agri commodity prices, expectations of a better monsoon this season and a good loan waiver scheme, a top official of the bank said.

"We should reach somewhere around 5.5 crore (55 million) farmers in 2010-11 in terms of coverage and loan target is 3,75,000 crore rupees (3.75 trillion rupees, $79.3 bln) ," a jump of 21 percent, Chairman Umesh Chandra Sarangi said.

He said that 45.6 million customers had been covered by financial institutions in the previous fiscal.

"We have been telling banks that the basic objective of debt waiver was to bring back those 40 million farmers whose access to credit has been stopped because of them having become defaulters," he said.