NABARD initiatives in Uttarakhand

NABARD initiatives in Uttarakhand

NABARD had not only benefitted the state since its separation from UP but also as a part of old UP state. The refinance disbursements of NABARD shows that UP had availed maximum refinance of ` 273 crore, ` 412 crore, ` 447 crore, and ` 484 crore in 1989-90, 1992-93, 1993-94, and in 1996-97 respectively.

NABARD prepares a Potential Linked Credit plan annually for each district by assessing the potential of the agriculture and other sectors of rural economy of the state. This serves as a guide for banks and government agencies to prepare their own investment and credit plans in the district and state.

In 1998-99 Uttarakhand was having a total potential of ` 54725 crore only which has been increased to more than 12 times in 2011-12. Out of the total potential of Rs 678803 crore during 2011-12, U.S. Nagar and Bageshwar has identified with the maximum and minimum potential respectively for an amount of ` 270078 crore and ` 7669 crore respectively. A potential of ` 803094 crore has been projected for the upcoming financial year of 2012-13 out of which NFS and OPS attracted a potential of 21% and 35% respectively.

After determining the potentials for each district according to various sectors Ground Level Credit flow (GLC) is targeted and then disbursed among the sectors of Crop Loan, Agricultural Term Loan, Non-farm Sector, and Other Priority Sector. The GLC flow under Priority Sectors in the State had increased immensely high from ` 524 crore during 1998-99 to ` 5699 crore during 2010-11 showing a growth of about 986 times. During 2010-11, the highest disbursement of GLC was recorded in US Nagar (36.42%) whereas the lowest disbursement was registered in Champawat (1.05%).

Being a hilly state, Uttarakhand is also receiving some additional incentives and initiatives from the national bank. They are as follows:

The SCBs working in Hilly Regions, NER and A & N Islands are eligible to have the highest 70% and 65% of refinance against the credit limits sanctioned for ST (SAO) on having Net NPA upto 15% and above 15% respectively. The same facility is available to SCBs in Eastern Region at 50% and 40% on having Net NPA upto 10% and above 10% respectively and for the rest of India it is 45% and 40% for SCBs on having Net NPA upto 10% and above 10% respectively. The RRBs working in Hilly Regions, NER and A & N Islands are eligible to have the highest 55% and 50% of refinance against the credit limits sanctioned for ST (SAO) on having Net NPA upto 10% and above 10% respectively. The same facility is available to RRBs in the states of Eastern Region at 35% and 30% on having Net NPA upto 5% and above 5% respectively and for the rest of India it is 30% and 25% for SCBs on having Net NPA upto 5% and above 5% respectively.

NABARD is not only providing additional initiatives for increasing the production credit flow credit in NER, Eastern Region and Hilly states but also providing additional investment credit initiatives for these regions. In this direction the national bank has relaxed its recovery norms for SCARDBs and provided relaxation in Net NPA norms by 5 and 3% respectively for SCBs and RRBs and providing refinance at 100% of the eligible bank loan for all client institutions (except SCARDBs) for all purposes. Moreover there are also special benefits for the state under RIDF projects. Under RIDF loaning for the projects related to farm and allied sectors is at 95% of project cost for all states; 90% of project cost for NER and Hilly States and at 85% for all other states for social sector related project; and at 90% of project cost for NER and Hilly States and at 80% for all other states for rural connectivity related projects.

Besides this, NABARD is also providing its general promotional and developmental initiatives to the state for farm, non-farm, and micro finance sectors and for financial inclusion. These initiatives include: