Aggregate sanctions by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) touched an all-time high of Rs 14,000 crore in 1997-98, registering a growth of 17 per cent compared to 1996-97.
The disbursements by Nabard during the year, including short, medium and long term, to various agencies was Rs 11,110 crore.
The term credit sanctioned by Nabard to commercial banks, co-operatives and to newly set up agricultural development finance companies was Rs 4,160 crore compared to Rs 3,801 crore in the last fiscal, a statement by Nabard said.
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The sectors which contributed to agricultural production such as minor irrigation, plantation and horticulture activities absorbed as much as Rs 1,790 crore during the year.
Rural employment generation activities such as support for integrated rural development programmes and special SC/ST action plan accounted for refinance assistance of Rs 1,100 crore.
For seasonal agricultural operations (SAO), Nabard sanctioned short-term credit limits totalling Rs 6,031 crore to co-operative banks and regional rural banks (RRBs) as against Rs 5,955 crore in the previous year.
Nabard continued to sanction special line of credit under the SAO package for development of tribal population (DTP) through co-operative banks and RRBs and the total limits sanctioned to these institutions for DTP aggregated to Rs 260 crore during 1997-98.
The short-term credit sanctioned by the bank for other purposes, including credit to handloom weavers and other non-farm activities through co-operatives and RRBs, was Rs 1,048 crore, the statement said.
Apart from conventional investments covered under the automatic refinance window, Nabard is laying increased focus on new and emerging areas in plantations and horticulture sector.
Sanctions during the year covered hi-tech projects for extraction of oleoresin, production of dehydrated vegetables for exports and production of white button mushroom for export.
A major achievement of the bank during the year was the starting of agriculture development finance companies, promoted by it in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Nabard sanctioned funds to these companies for eight schemes pertaining to commercial and hi tech agriculture. For development of rural infrastructure, Nabard presently is providing finance to state governments through three tranches of the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF).
The sanctions to state governments for infrastructure creation RIDF-III aggregated Rs 2,584 crore in 1997-98. Finance for construction of roads and bridges was given priority and accounted for Rs 1,572 crore or 61 per cent of the total sanctions under RIDF.
The disbursement of refinance by Nabard during the year was Rs 3,921 crore compared to Rs 3,523 crore in the previous year, registering a growth of 11 per cent.
The co-operative banks availed Rs 2,429 crore, 61 per cent of the disbursement.