Bhubaneswar, Apr 9: The Odisha Regional Office of NABARD has recorded an over-all outstanding performance in the State during the year 2015-16.
According to a release, total sanctions in the State under the categories of loans to State government refinance support to banks and direct loans were Rs 8,800 crore and against these sanctions, the regional office disbursed Rs 8,367 crore to the State government banks, corporations and other agencies like NGOs and producers organisations.
In terms of Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) of NABARD under which loans are extended to the State government for creation of critical rural infrastructure projects like irrigation, roads, bridges, etc, during 2015-16, the support extended to the State government under RIDF -XXI was Rs 3,000 crore, showing an increase of about 15 pc over the previous year’s sanctions.
Similarly, disbursements under various tranches of RIDF reached an all-time high of Rs 2,264 crore, registering an increase of about 45 pc over the previous year.
The support has helped the State government complete execution of many of the RIDF projects during the year. One of the major projects sanctioned during the year was in Nuapada district.
This project entails an outlay of Rs 752 crore (RIDF loan of Rs 543 crore) and would provide piped drinking water supply in fluoride affected areas, benefiting about 1.20 lakh families.
Besides, one mega lift canal irrigation project with RIDF loan of Rs 766 crore on Upper Indravati Irrigation project in Kalahandi district and 19 mega-lift irrigation projects with aggregate RIDF loan of Rs.497 crore were sanctioned in four backward districts of the State during the year.
The cumulative RIDF sanctions and disbursements in the State as at the end of March 2016, amounted to Rs 14,995 crore and Rs 9,918 crore, respectively.
The RIDF assistance in the State is estimated to have brought about irrigation facility in 18.68 lakh Ha road length of 8200 Km and bridge length of nearly 1.02 lakh metre has also been supported under RIDF providing critical rural connectivity for improving the socio-economic conditions of the interior villages in the State.
NABARD had started a separate Warehouse Infrastructure Fund (WIF) in 2014-15 for supporting the creation of warehouse infrastructure in the States so that small and marginal farmers could benefit from adequate and efficient storing facilities.
So far, NABARD has sanctioned Rs 1,077 crore under WIF to the State government for construction of 3,725 rural godowns in the Primary Agriculture Cooperative Societies (PACS) located across various districts of the State,with a total capacity of 7.3 lakh MT.
During 2015-16, an amount of Rs 160 crore was released to the State government and cumulative disbursement to Odisha stood at Rs 184 crore under WIF at the end of March 2016.
To enable the co-operative banks (DCCBs) and the regional rural banks (RRBs) in the State to meet the production credit needs of farmers, NABARD provides short term refinance to these institutions at subsidised interest rates.
Refinance for short terms loans of Rs 4,200.00 crore were sanctioned and disbursed to the Odisha State Cooperative Bank during 2015-16. NABARD also disbursed Long Term Refinance of Rs 512 crore to commercial banks, Odisha State Co-operative Bank and one MFI during the year.
Out of the total refinance extended, refinance of Rs 63 crore was extended on soft terms to the Odisha State Cooperative Bank under LTRCF (Long Term Rural Credit Fund), a dedicated fund instituted by the Central government in NABARD.
Such refinance is slated to enhance private sector capital formation in agriculture. For facilitating augmentation of disbursement of agricultural term loans by the banks, NABARD conducted a number of ground level workshops for bank officials and also prepared Area Development Schemes for fisheries, farm mechanization, poultry and dairy development in select blocks of nine districts of the state, with a total financial outlay of Rs 162 crore, in 2015-16.
To supplement the efforts of banks in the State for supporting various activities connected to agriculture, NABARD has also started a direct lending window.
Under this facility, an amount of Rs 900 crore was sanctioned to the Odisha State Civil Supplies Corporation for its food grain procurement operations, during the year 2015-16.
NABARD also extended Rs 150 crore to Odisha State Co-operative Bank, for on-lending Odisha State Civil Supplies Corporation during the year, under its direct lending window. Under Producers Organisation Development Fund (PODF), NABARD sanctioned an amount of Rs three crore to a producer company for procurement and marketing of organic cotton in Kalahandi and Bolangir districts, benefiting organic cotton growing farmers.
Besides, to enable the PACS to function as multi service centres (MSCs),providing comprehensive range of services to their farmer members like custom hiring of farm machinery, purchase of tractors, combine harvestors, stocking of fertilizers, etc. NABARD extended financial support of Rs 5.11 crore for setting up such MSCs in 28 PACS in the State during the year.
