‘NABARD gave ₹11505 cr to UP’

LUCKNOW: The national bank for agriculture and rural development (NABARD) has projected a ground level credit flow target of ₹2,07,903 crore for 2017-18 for financing by banks under agriculture, SMEs and other priority sector in Uttar Pradesh.

The bank’s chief general manager A K Panda gave this information in a press statement on Monday. “The annual business operations of the NABARD in the state during 2016-17 crossed the landmark milestone of Rs 11,505 crore. The financial support during 2016-17 included Rs 5,014 crore released to regional rural banks (RRBs) and cooperative banks for crop loans to farmers and ₹2,406 crore released as refinance to banks and NBFCs for investment purposes leading to capital formation in agriculture and provision of micro credit to the unbanked rural populace,” stated the press statement.

Uttar Pradesh regional office of NABARD has been playing an important role in overall development of the state with special focus on agricultural credit through commercial banks, RRBs and cooperatives, infrastructure development through rural infrastructure development fund (RIDF) and strengthening of short term cooperative credit structure. The focus has also been on women empowerment through self help groups, microfinance through joint liability groups and several other new initiatives on natural resources management with special focus on soil and water conservation. Sanctions under RIDF were to the tune of ₹1892 crore in respect of 583 projects to the state government for critical infrastructure development.