Bhubaneswar: The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) Friday assured the disbursal of Rs 16,000 crore for various activities in the state by the end of this fiscal.
MK Mudgal, chief general manager, Nabard Head Office Mumbai, who visited the state to review the performance of the bank here, said: “Nabard in the state is gearing up to meet the target of Rs 16,000 crore disbursal as against Rs 14,715 crore last fiscal. The state chapter has also prepared the credit potential for next year so that a state can use for its reference,” Mudgal said, adding the credit of Rs 11 lakh crore extended for welfare of the farmer is expected to see 30 per cent to 35 per cent of term loans.
He interacted with all district officers and regional officials on the performance of the bank in the state.
He told media that Nabard as a development financial Institution has offices in 423 districts in the country. The district level officers work for the development of rural economy in coordination with line departments of state government, banks, local NGOs and other stakeholders.
Emphasising the role of Nabard in credit planning, Mudgal said that potential linked credit plan is being prepared annually by Nabard for the priority sectors of every district in the state. An overall credit potential of Rs 71,419.85 crore has been projected for Odisha under priority sector for the year 2018-19. Special emphasis is being laid by Nabard on capital formation in agriculture through enhancement of investment credit. He urged banks to finance activities like micro irrigation that can sustainably harness natural resources.
“The review performance by Mudgal during his visit to the office will encourage us to meet the targets set for this fiscal. We have already witnessed the disbursal at Rs 11,000 crore this fiscal and are hopeful to reach Rs 16,000 crore by March 2018,” KC Panigrahi, chief general manager, Nabard Odisha, said.
Talking about the new initiatives of Nabard, he said the bank has promoted Farmers Producers Organisation (FPOs) to collectivise small and marginal farmers with the objective to ensure competitive price for their inputs and remunerative price for their produce.
“Hundred such FPOs have been promoted and registered under the Company’s Act in Odisha during 2016-17. This fiscal we have already registered 200 FPOs and is hopeful to increase the count to 225 by the end of current fiscal,” Panigrahi said.
For women empowerment, Nabard has assisted in promotion of about 80 lakh Women Self Help Groups (WSHGs) with a membership of 9 to 10 crore women all over the country, the bank said in an official release.
Nabard gives all types of support including capacity building of these groups. Besides, Nabard has launched EShakti, a project aimed to digitise the transaction related information of SHGs, which would facilitate banks in credit appraisal and provision of bank credit these SHGs.
After successful implementation in Jagatsinghpur district, EShakti project has been launched in six other districts of the state, it added.
