farmers first, says nabard chairman · press release farmers first, says nabard chairman ......

Press Release

Farmers first, says NABARD Chairman

New Delhi: NABARD is a name synonymous with agriculture and most of its developmental

and promotional initiatives aim towards benefiting farmers, especially small and marginal

ones. Elucidating this further, Dr Harsh Kumar Bhanwala, Chairman, NABARD, said,

“NABARD has sanctioned ₹1403.37 crore to a basket of innovative projects directly

impacting the farming community across the country out of its various development

funds such as Watershed Development Fund, Financial Inclusion Fund, Tribal

Development Fund, etc. during 2012-13. This support is primarily grant based

support to our channel partners and works towards a more equitable, a more

financially inclusive India. Our primary objective has been on developing

collaborative models of regional development harnessing best practices evolving in

various parts of the country.”

The break-up of disbursements shows an expansive coverage of major development areas

like watershed development, micro finance, tribal development and financial inclusion.

The details are as under:

Watershed Development Fund ₹ 224.11

MFDEF Expenditure ₹ 107.79

Tribal Development Fund ₹ 606.14

Financial Inclusion Fund ₹ 408.39

Financial Inclusion &Technology Fund

₹ 17.14

Farmers Technology Transfer Fund ₹ 39.79

Total ₹ 1403.37

In the last fortnight alone, NABARD has committed ₹1,000 crore under a new scheme

called Rejuvenation of Orchards in Jammu and Kashmir Scheme with a phasing of five

years for enabling apple growers to get better returns. It has sanctioned 1,112 crore for₹

creation of 1,336 warehouses in the country and 6,064 crore for 33 projects under₹

agriculture and allied sector (irrigation and drainage projects) while another 250 projects

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National Bank for Agriculture and Rural DevelopmentHead Office: Plot No. C-24, G Block, Bandra-Kurla Complex, Bandra (E), Mumbai - 400 051

www.nabard.org

have been sanctioned for improving rural connectivity (roads and bridges) and 804

projects under social sector (schools, primary health centres, drinking water projects,

etc) in the country.

NABARD's refinance support in 2012-13 accounted for 40.87% of all India crop loan

disbursements by cooperatives and Regional Rural Banks (RRBs). A target of ₹80,000 crore

has been fixed under Short Term for financing Seasonal Agricultural Operations (SAO) of

Cooperative Banks and RRBs for 2013-14. Against this target, an amount of ₹55,322 crore

has been utilised so far, Dr Bhanwala added. The State Cooperative Banks (StCBs) which

received major refinance were those of Punjab, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra

and Andhra Pradesh while the RRBs in Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and

Karnataka accounted for a major share.

“Providing a viable space to Primary Agriculture Cooperative Societies (PACS),” Dr

Bhanwala, stated “is critical to the very survival of these last mile credit outlets.

NABARD has therefore extended financial support to PACS to transform them into Multi

Service Centres (MSCs) for meeting the various requirements of the farmers. This

addresses the imminent need to develop PACS as a One Stop Shop unit for meeting the

overall needs of the farmers.” During 2013-14, financial assistance to the tune of ₹191.03

crore was sanctioned and ₹55.41 crore was released mainly for establishment of agro

service centres, rural retail outlets, agri marketing infrastructure etc.

NABARD has recently developed an additional line of finance for Central Cooperative

Banks (CCBs) to enable them to raise financial resources other than StCBs which is

intended to serve the entire co-operative structure instead of focusing on a single layer

of the co-operative system. NABARD has also designed a new product to provide

refinance assistance to StCBs/CCBs against pledge of sugar stocks of co-operative and

private sugar factories.

In addition to cooperative banks, NABARD also provided a separate line of credit to

Marketing Federations/Co-operatives/Corporations to promote the procurement and

marketing of agricultural produce and other agricultural activities. During 2013-14, short

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term loan of ₹250 crore was sanctioned to Marketing Federations/Corporations for

procurement of paddy through PACS and disbursement stood at ₹285 crore.

In its endeavor to have a direct interface with Producers Organisations (POs)/ collectives

in a comprehensive manner, NABARD has sanctioned an assistance of ₹43.069 crore to 33

POs and disbursed an amount of ₹16.95 crore. The major activities include aggregation of

farm produce, processing and marketing of dairy, fishery, organic vegetable, marketing

infrastructure and eco-tourism, etc.

NABARD is also reaching out to the unbanked by promoting the RuPay-enabled Kisan

Credit Card. “The Kisan Credit Card (KCC) scheme has emerged as an innovative credit

delivery mechanism to meet the production credit requirements of the farmers in a

timely and hassle-free manner,” said Dr Bhanwala.

Farm Innovation and Promotion Fund (FIPF) and Farmers’ Technology Transfer Fund

(FTTF), two funds created specifically to encourage innovations and transmission of best

agri practices in the agri community have seen an inflow of very encouraging proposals.

185 projects spread across 24 states have been sanctioned under FIPF at the end of 31

December 2013, with cumulative assistance of ₹79.44 crore, directly benefiting around

1.50 lakh farmers. FTTF, on the other hand has encouraged setting up of Farmers' Clubs,

Pilot Project for Lead Crops, System of Rice Intensification, Master Farmers Training

Programme, Village Development Programme, Capacity Building for Adoption of

Technology, Farmers' Training and Rural Development Centre.

Further, a new line of refinance support was opened for Public Sector Commercial Banks

and RRBs during 2011-12 to finance the short term operations of the Primary Agricultural

Credit Societies (PACS) wherever the District Central Cooperative Banks/ State

Cooperative Banks were weak and unable to provide support to PACS. The State Bank of

Hyderabad has availed this facility in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, and a sum of

₹129.39 crore was released by NABARD out of the revised target of ₹65,000 crore.

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Graphical representation of disbursements in various sectors :

1. Utilisation of ST (SAO) refinance for last five years:

2. Total macro picture about the financial support by NABARD:

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www.nabard.org

2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13

0.00

10000.00

20000.00

30000.00

40000.00

50000.00

60000.00

70000.00

16803.27

24216.45

33399.75

48000.74

64968.16

Max.Utilisation

3. Crop Loans refinance support by NABARD

4. Investment credit Refinance by NABARD

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5. Support provided by SPD under RIDF

6. Support provided for micro finance development by NABARD

Figures for 2012-13 :

Number of SHGs credit Linked :12.20 Lakh ; Loans disbursed : Rs. 20,585 Cr. __________________________________________________________________________


www.nabard.org

7. Progress under Watershed Development Fund :

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farmers first, says nabard chairman · press release farmers first, says nabard chairman ......

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