NABARD extends Rs 14,970 crore under RIDF in FY 2011-12

The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) extended a record support of Rs 14,970 crore under the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund in 2011-12, a growth of 24 per cent over the year-ago period.

NABARD had disbursed Rs 12,070 crore under the RIDF scheme in 2010-11, a NABARD release said today.

The aggregate assets held by NABARD rose to Rs 1,82,300 crore, an increase of Rs 23,500 crore over the previous year, it said.

Refinance assistance provided by NABARD to cooperative banks and regional rural banks (RRBs) during 2011-12 to disburse crop loans to farmers touched an all-time high of Rs 48,000 crore, registering an increase of Rs 14,000 crore, or 41 per cent over the previous year, the release added.

The investment refinance provided to banks by NABARD during 2011-12 for capital formation in agriculture and allied sectors and for non-farm activities stood at Rs 15,424 crore, registering an increase of Rs 1,938 crore, or 14 per cent, over the previous fiscal.

During the year, 25,238 farmers clubs were launched by different agencies with NABARD support, taking the total number of such clubs to around 1,01946, the release said.

Many pilot projects of innovative interventions were launched by NABARD where some of them were converting Kisan Credit Card to cashless transactions through mobile phone, financing for livelihood and agriculture productivity.

Source: EconomicTimes