BHUBANESWAR: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday urged National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) to widen and sharpen its interventions in Odisha to strengthen partnership with the State Government for agricultural assets, rural infrastructure and various other critical gap funding programmes.
Inaugurating the State Credit Seminar 2018-19 organised by Nabard, Naveen called upon banks to refer the credit plan documents prepared by the financial agency and play a more pro-active role in meeting the potential credit demand of the State.
Naveen lauded the efforts of Nabard in preparation of the credit plan of `71,419 crore for 2018-19 by taking into account the available and planned infrastructure, existing policies and schemes of Government demand and supply conditions. He also appreciated the financial assistance provided to the State during the last fiscal and its initiative in implementing 51 Tribal Development Projects and 108 Watershed Development Projects benefiting about 94,000 poor families.
Speaking on the occasion, Finance Minister Shashi Bhusan Behera exhorted all stake-holders to focus on agricultural and rural development while addressing the areas which require improvement. Besides appreciating Nabard’s credit planning exercise, he urged the banking network to realise the planned credit potential.
Chief Secretary AP Padhi expressed concern about the negative growth in credit flow for agriculture and MSME sectors during 2016-17 and requested banks to reverse the trend and ensure better inclusive growth. He cited gaps in banking sector such as poor banking network and declining credit deposit ratio and urged banks to take necessary measure to enhance credit flow for the desired sectors of the rural economy. Finance Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey also spoke.
Highlighting Nabard’s role in SHG-bank linkage and promotion of Joint Liability Group (JLG) model of financing, Chief General Manager, KC Panigrahi said efforts have been made to digitise SHGs thorough ‘E-Shakti’ in seven districts and water campaigns launched in 10 water stressed districts. He underlined the role of the agency in combating climate change and said, Odisha is the first State in the country where Green Climate Fund project is being implemented in 15 vulnerable and backward districts.