NABARD Regional Office celebrates 39th Foundation Day in Gujarat

NE BUSINESS BUREAU

AHMEDABAD, JULY 13

The Regional Office of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), the apex development bank of the nation, celebrated its 39th Foundation Day on Sunday, July 12. NABARD over the years has played an important role with the support of Government of Gujarat and other stakeholders in creating an excellent rural infrastructure and developing rural financial institutions in Gujarat, a NABARD release said.

“During 2019-20, NABARD Gujarat Regional Office extended financial assistance of Rs. 15,342.63 crore, including disbursement of Rs. 2,860.93 crore for creation of a rural infrastructure in the State. During the last more than 100 days of the current financial year, NABARD Gujarat has taken various developmental initiatives to combat the challenges thrown by COVID 19,” the release added.

Further, it has tirelessly endeavoured to bring a smile on the faces of farmers and rural people through its various interventions like SHGs, JLGs, Farmers’ Clubs, Farmer Producers’ Organisations, Watershed projects, Tribal Development Projects etc. NABARD continues to be a major partner of State Government in its development endeavours and this partnership is growing year after year.

Interventions by NABARD during COVID -19 pandemic

1. Financial Inclusion: Ten mobile vans with ATMs mounted on it were provided to RRBs and DCCBs from the Financial Inclusion Fund of NABARD. 126 lakh was sanctioned to various banks in the State for 218 Micro ATMs and 1634 PoS/MPoS machines to take banking at the doorstep of customers in remotest areas of the State. Rs 247 lakh was also sanctioned to banks in the State for Financial Literacy drive during 2020-21 so far.
2. The collectivisation of farmers’ produces: To nurture and support the collectives of farmers in the State, 51 new Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) have been formed with NABARD assistance during 2019-20 taking the total of NABARD assisted FPOs in the State to 191. Business Development Assistance (BDA) amounting to Rs. 11.57 lakh has been sanctioned to 5 FPOs which enable FPOs to effectively market their produce and earn better price realisation of their produce. Further, as per the Government of India directive, 44 FPOs have been facilitated for e-NAM registration to market their produce all across the country through this portal. Government of India has announced the formation of 10,000 new FPOs by 2023-24 and NABARD along with SFAC & NCDC will be the implementing Agencies in this initiative.

3. Support Under Special Liquidity Fund (SLF): In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Rs. 560 crore has been released under Special Liquidity Facility to the Gujarat State Cooperative Bank on behalf of DCCBs and Rs. 30 crore to NBFC-MFI to augment their liquidity position.
4. Short Term (Seasonal Agricultural Operations): NABARD has sanctioned a limit of Rs 3,200 crore to the GSCB on behalf of DCCBs in the State and has released refinance support to the tune of Rs. 370 crore to finance seasonal agricultural activities so far.
5. Assistance for the Creation of Rural Infrastructure: Under RIDF, for creation of rural infrastructure and generate livelihood in rural areas, 297.77 crore has been disbursed and Rs. 1,118.91 crore has been sanctioned so far to the State Government during 2020-21.
6. Watershed and Wadi Projects: Total grant of Rs. 78 lakh was released for Watershed and TDF-Wadi projects. In the process, 5,825 man-days of work were executed under seven watershed development projects during current fiscal so far, during the lockdown period. An amount of Rs. 11.76 lakh sanctioned for a watershed project in Narmada district and two watershed Development Projects in the pre-CBP stage have also been sanctioned, one each in Surendranagar and Devbhumi Dwarka Districts, respectively.
7. Skill Development for Rural Youths: An amount of Rs. 18.30 lakh has been sanctioned for Livelihood and Enterprise Development as also for Micro Enterprise Development projects covering 480 women from 343 SHGs in 17 villages.
8. Arrangements for sell of SHGs’ products: Rural Marts sanctioned by NABARD to overcome the problem of SHGs in marketing their products were also selling masks and together with NGOs, they spread the awareness to safeguard against Pandemic COVID-19.
9. Training, production and marketing of masks and sanitizer: NABARD arranged several training programmes and awareness programmes in its Tribal development and watershed development project areas on masks stitching and preparation of soap/sanitizer.