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The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard)'s support to Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) reached a new peak of Rs 970 crore in the financial year 2014-15. It supported the state by way of refinancing banks, the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) assistance and grant assistance to banks and non-governmental organisation, among others.
During the period, Nabard extended an aggregate refinance support of Rs 602 crore to commercial banks and regional rural banks (RRBs) in the state. This includes long-term refinance support of Rs 503 crores to these banks for financing agriculture and rural enterprises to create productive assets for sustainable growth. Nabard also extended financial aid of Rs 99 crore to RRBs for extending crop loans through Kisan Credit Card to farmers.
To increase the credit flow in agriculture sector, Nabard's J&K regional office also launched Area Development Schemes (ADS) in five districts - Jammu, Kathua, Samba, Rajouri, & Dodaunder - where various banks are expected to finance dairy development activities.
Under RIDF, Nabard has released loan assistance of Rs 366 crore to the state. During 2014-15, the institution gave Rs 277 crore for rural infrastructure projects, a 32 per cent increase compared with the last year's aid.
Nabard sanctioned 115 new projects, out of which 62 were pertaining to roads and bridges, rural market yard (1), seed farms (3), animal/sheep husbandry (33) and primary health centres (16) involving RIDF loan of Rs 308 crore. This was about seven times higher than the aggregate project sanctioned worth Rs 40 crore during 2013-14.
