The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has projected a credit potential of Rs 12,726.83 crore for Uttarakhand during 2014-15 which is a 17.35 per cent increase over the current year’s projection. The regional office of NABARD Uttarakhand released the State Focus Paper (SFP) 2014-15 here on Wednesday.
Releasing the focus paper the Additional Chief Secretary and Forest and Rural Development Commissioner BP Pandey appreciated the SFP for its detailed and focused approach. He suggested that NABARD should also take the views of the NGOs and other organisations working on the ground level while preparing the credit plans.
Pandey emphasised that a regular review process should be followed for the proper implementation of the schemes.
He cautioned banks to look at the recovery part of the loans also. Of the total credit plan of Rs 12,726.83 crore for the State, crop loan has the lion’s share of Rs 4,295.55 crore, which is about 34 per cent of the total credit requirement assessed.
Chief General Manager of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Rl Sharma said that decreasing Credit to Deposit (CD) Ratio is the area of concern for the banks and they should take corrective measures for this. Deputy General Manager, State Bank of India MB Diwakar advised that the banks should give importance to coverage of unbanked villages, Kisan Credit Cards (KCC) Rupay Debit Cards and Micro ATMs for the rural population.
Assistant General Manager of NABARD, RP Singh informed that the SFP gives a comprehensive picture of the potential available for various sectors. This acts as a useful document for the State Government departments to provide required infrastructure in the rural areas and to provide budgetary allocations. For bankers the SFP is the reference document for finalising the lending programmes with or without subsidy.
Chief General Manager, NABARD, S Selvaraj, spoke on the methodology adopted for the preparation of SFP.