The National bank for Agriculture and rural Development (NABARD) has said it has provided a financial assistance of Rs 10,012 crore to UP government during 2017-18 to facilitate overall development with special focus on agricultural credit.
"This has been achieved through commercial banks, Regional rural banks and district cooperative banks , infrastructure development through dedicated funds, strengthening of rural financial institutions (RFI) women empowerment through Self Help Groups, micro-finance and several other new initiatives," NABARD Chief General Manager of UP, A K Panda said in a statement here.
Panda said digital transformation of RFIs and rural enterprises, development plans for Bundelkhand region, crop residue management in western UP and irrigation infrastructure and its command management would be on the priority list of the NABARD for the current fiscal 2018-19.
He said the financial assistance extended to the state during 2017-18 included Rs 8,450 crore released to commercial banks, Regional Rural Banks and Cooperative Banks for financing agriculture allied and off farm sectors in the state by way of short and long term refinance support.
Sanctions under Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF loans aggregated Rs 1,706 crore and disbursed amount was Rs 1,500 crore for rural infrastructure projects including Rs 1,050 crore for Kanhar canal irrigation project in Sonbhadra. He said that MOU has been signed between the UP government and NABARD for implementing projects under long Term Irrigation Fund (lTIF). The projects covered under the lTIF are Saryu canal project, Arjun Sahayak and Madhya Ganga canal project, creation of irrigation potential of 16 lakh hectares.
As a part of its institution development role, NABARD is supporting and guiding the district Cooperative Banks (DCBs) for improving their financial health. Of the 16 newly licensed DCCBs, 10 DCCBs have started earning profits by reducing substantial amount of losses, 13 banks have been able maintain the prescribed CRAR as on 31 March 2017 and nine of the 16 DCCBs are functioning now on CBS platform. CRAR is the capital to risk weighted assets ratio, a standard metric to measure balance sheet strength of banks
On NABARD's future road map, Panda said it has projected a ground level credit flow target of Rs 2,37,801 crore for 2018-19 for financing by banks under priority sectors such as agriculture, SMEs and other priority sector in Uttar Pradesh which is 17 per cent higher than the projections of Rs 2,10,910 crore for 2017-18. The focus would be on doubling of farmer’s income and rural employment generation through skill and enterprise development in cluster mode, he added.