HYDERABAD: The credit potential of Telangana in the priority sector lending for 2022-23 has been worked out to Rs 1,66,384.90 crore, of which Rs 1,01,173.80 crore has been projected for agriculture sector alone, as per the ‘State Focus Paper 2022-23’ of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD).
The report was released in presence of Agriculture Minister S Niranjan Reddy and Panchayat Raj Minister E Dayakar Rao in Hyderabad on Thursday.
Complimenting NABARD for being a valuable partner in the growth story of Telangana, Niranjan Reddy highlighted the need to diversify from paddy cultivation to oil palm cultivation and exhorted bankers to extend credit for the same.
The Minister also urged bankers to extend loans to those establishing food processing units, godowns and exporting the food produce and also to encourage techno-savvy youth who have been taking to farming in large numbers in recent times.
NABARD Chief General Manager YK Rao expressed confidence that State Focus Paper 2022-23 would be of immense utility to the State government for initiating targeted interventions through budgetary allocations and to bankers for effectively channelising credit to the credit-starved sectors.
He highlighted major thrust areas which have been identified for 2022-23 like financing of Farmer Producers’ Organisations and use of Artificial Intelligence in agriculture in view of the major interventions taken by the government and NABARD, in addition to strengthening cooperatives and promoting oil palm cultivation.
He said that NABARD will constitute a subcommittee for fixing unit cost of drone-based technology to be used in agriculture activity.
Farm credit for agriculture and allied organisations for 2022-23 has been projected at Rs 85,382.70 crore, for development of agricultural infrastructure credit projections at Rs 4,025.35 crore and for ancillary sectors like food and agro processing at Rs 11,765.75 crore.
The report also projected Rs 49,874.32 crore as credit potential for MSMEs Rs 10,176.79 crore for housing, Rs 2,717.64 crore for education, Rs 468.50 crore for renewable energy, Rs 1,450.65 crore for social infrastructure and Rs 523.20 crore for others. The projection for 2022-23 is 15 per cent more than 2021-22, as per the report.
