BHUBANESWAR: The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has projected `3.15 lakh crore as Odisha’s priority sector credit potential for 2026-27, with MSMEs and agriculture emerging as the key drivers.
According to the State Focus Paper (SFP) released on Tuesday by chief secretary Anu Garg at the state credit seminar here, of the total projected credit potential, MSMEs account for the largest share of Rs 1.52 lakh crore followed by agriculture at Rs 1.14 lakh crore, while the remaining amount covers housing, education, renewable energy, social infrastructure, export credit and other sectors.
Chairing the seminar, the chief secretary highlighted the state government’s Vision 2036 blueprint and urged banks and financial institutions to scale up credit flow to support the state’s goal of becoming a developed state by 2036 and a USD 1.5 trillion economy by 2047. She stressed the need to graduate SHGs into SMEs and farmers into agripreneurs, while addressing the “missing middle” in the MSME segment.
Principal secretary, Finance Sanjeeb Kumar Mishra called for balanced regional credit growth, with special focus on tribal and backward regions, and urged private sector banks to enhance priority sector lending to improve the credit-deposit ratio.
RBI regional director Sarada Prasan Mohanty asked banks to align their annual credit plans with the SFP projections. NABARD officials noted that Odisha has significant untapped credit potential, backed by its diverse agro-climatic conditions and steady economic growth.