Bankers in Karnataka have the potential to extend credit of up to ₹1.08 lakh crore in 2015-16 for agriculture and allied sectors, medium and small enterprises and development of rural infrastructure, according to projections made by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard).
The estimates represent a 26 per cent increase over projections made for the current financial year.
Releasing the State Focus Paper for 2015-16, Nabard's Chief General Manager GR Chintala said the potential linked credit plans (PLPs) for 2015-16 were prepared on the edifice of base PLPs for 2015-16 after accounting for factors such as changes in government's priorities and policies, strengthening of rural infrastructure, market forces and cost escalation among others.
Chintala said that keeping the importance of capital formation in agriculture sector for its sustainability over a period of time, the paper is focused on “accelerating the pace of capital formation in agriculture and allied sector.”
In its efforts to facilitate increased credit flow to agriculture, the bank has identified 74 area-based schemes (ABS) in the 2015-16 credit plans involving an outlay of ₹952 crore. These proposed schemes are in sectors such as dairy, poly house, agro processing, storage and small ruminants, plantation, horticulture and sericulture.
The adoption of ABS through cluster approach with assured backward and forward linkages is expected to result in increased ground level credit to allied agricultural activities, Chintala said, exhorting the bankers to create awareness among farmers with respect to adoption of better technology and best practices.
Potential areas Karnataka Horticulture Secretary Rajeev Chawala said sectors such as sericulture, horticulture and the possibility of tapping and processing of neera from coconut trees hold potential for credit expansion.
He said the survey of horticulture farmers in Karnataka has been taken up and the result for about 7-8 districts will be made available this year, which would give an insight on credit profile and the cropping trends among others.