Nabard to increase disbursals

The state dairy sector may get Rs 1600 crore

Senior officials of the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) at Ahmedabad have expressed bank's commitment to increase support to the dairy sector in the state.

The bank has also expressed its willingness to go for bulk financing through dairy co-operatives to enhance infrastructure and support small farmers.

"The agriculture sector suffers from weather vagaries. Farmers can sustain themselves only if they have other options on their hands and dairy activities provide that opportunity. Nabard plans to disburse Rs 8,000 crore in the state during the fiscal, and we will make sure that dairy sector receives 15-20 per cent share from the same," said Bhawar Puri, chief general manager, Nabard.

Puri was speaking at a seminar organised by the Gujarat state chapter of the Indian Dairy Association on 'Agricultural Credit Policy' with reference to dairy infrastructure on Saturday.

Commenting on the mode of financing, Puri said, "We are willing to start a new channel to increase finance to the dairy sector. We may opt for bulk financing where we will hand over funds to the dairy co-operatives who will take care of disbursement and recovery. The funds can be utilised for upgrading the dairy infrastructure as well as financing farmers wanting to buy cattle. We can also push associated banks to increase disbursals to the dairy sector. We will design a model after consulting dairy co-operatives shortly."

Stressing on the need of enhancing infrastructure facility in the dairy sector, B M Vyas, managing director of Gujarat Co-operatives Milk Marketing Federation Ltd (GCMMF), said, "There is an immediate need to improve the infrastructure in the sector. Today, customers want quality dairy products which requires efficient infrastructure such as strong cold chain. The sector is in dire need of finance to increase the pace of infrastructure upgradation. We are open for an arrangement with Nabard for enhanced funding to the sector."

It may be mentioned here that Nabard manages a venture capital fund for dairy activities where finance is being done in the ratio of 2:1. Under the dairy scheme, a unit with 10 animals and modern equipment for milk production is given Rs 3 lakh.

A loan of Rs 15 lakh can be considered for purchasing milking machines and bulk cooling unit up to 2,000 litre capacity.

Meanwhile, Nabard has already disbursed about Rs 3,000 crore in the first quarter of the current fiscal. The bank has set a disbursal target of Rs 8,000 crore during the year against Rs 6,400 crore during previous financial year.