National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) set up in 1982, is a leading development finance institution in India. The bank has been entrusted with policy, planning and operational aspects of rural lending aimed at holistic development of the rural economy. From their website, NABARD’s stated mission is to “Promote sustainable, equitable agriculture and rural development through participative financial and non-financial interventions, innovations, technology and institutional development for securing prosperity”.
Ever since its inception, NABARD has taken up the uphill task of providing developmental credit to rural India which was highly underserved with the formal credit system earlier. NABARD also has reputed global associates including World Bank affiliated organisations and other global developmental agencies that are active in the areas of agricultural and rural development. These global collaborations play a pivotal role in advising and providing monetary aid for the rural upliftment and optimisation of agricultural practices.
Apart from financing the traditional agricultural practices, NABARD promotes and extends credit to small scale and village industries, rural crafts, artisans and other allied economic sectors. It looks into promotion and development initiatives in the areas of farm, off-farm, micro finance, financial inclusion, integrated with the government sponsored programmes.
NABARD has successfully designed and implemented breakthroughs like Kisan Credit Card (KCC), RuPayKisan Cards (RKCs), EShakti (digitisation of SHGs), marketing initiatives for rural handicrafts and various incubators to promote rural entrepreneurship. NABARD is actively reaching out for Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) in the areas of dry land farming, natural resource management, micro-irrigation, livelihood generation, solar energy, rural habitat, agro-tourism etc. and has funded companies involved in rural development programs apart from incubation support to entrepreneurs. One notable partnership was done by MoU with Maharashtra based agro – irrigation major Jain irrigation Systems Ltd. (JISL) to ensure clean drinking water in villages under its Village Development program (VDP).
With over half of the population residing in villages, a robust institution like NABARD is very much required to enhance the socio-economic status of Rural India through better earning potential and quality of life.
FocusAgritech’s Outlook:
NABARD has been effectively supervising the Cooperative Banks and Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) and guiding them towards sound banking practices and integrating to the CBS (Core Banking Solution) platform. It has also resurrected the cottage industries and other small allied businesses in the rural economy. Strengthening such institutions would surely lead to impactful changes at the grassroots level of rural India which is exactly what we need in today’s times. Further collaborations with NGO, Private Partners will strengthen the reach and outcome of the efforts by this laudable establishment.
Partner Institutions:
Scheduled Commercial Banks, State Governments, Regional Rural Banks, State Cooperative Banks, State Cooperative Agriculture & Rural Development Banks, Rural Financial Institutions, NGOs and Voluntary Agencies, Research Organisations, Jain Irrigation
Keywords: NABARD, KCC, RRB, Rural Entrepreneurship, EShakti
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