In its annual State Credit Seminar held here on Friday, the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) presented the Credit Plan for the State for 2015-16, which projected an outlay of Rs47,756.43 crore for the priority sector. The outlay represents an increase of 19 per cent over the figure in the current fiscal year.
Of this, the outlay for the agricultural loans is Rs26,226.48 crore. The amount projected for agricultural sector includes credit for farm mechanisation to the tune of Rs2,164.02 crore, Rs661.29 crore for plantation and horticulture, Rs1,766.41 crore in animal husbandry sector and Rs688.29 crore for fishery. Considering the huge requirement of agricultural storage space in the State, the potential credit requirement for storage and godown is estimated at Rs725.28 crore.
The seminar was chaired by Chief Secretary GC Pati. Additional Chief Secretary & Development Commissioner UN Behera was the guest of honour. The NABARD presented the State Focus Paper 2015-16. Its theme is Accelerating the Pace of Capital Formation in Agriculture & Allied Sectors in Odisha.Pati appreciated the efforts of NABARD for the excellent plan document making assessment of realizable sectoral potentials and for identification of Sectoral interventions.
Additional Chief Secretary R Balakrishnan pointed out that lack of infrastructure is forcing the State’s population to drift away from agriculture. RBI Regional Director PK Jena suggested for realignment of service areas of the bank branches for better service to the public and urged the banks to adopt one block in each district for full implementation of credit plans.
SK Kale, Chief General Manager heading NABARD operation in the State revealed that the focus is on asset creation in agriculture and would be used to create infrastructure and services including irrigation structures, agri-input supply chain, post-harvest technological facilities etc. Banks are required to upscale term loan financing for the farming community for more private investment in host of on-farm and off-farm activities, agriculture and allied activities in the State.
