ITANAGAR, Dec 20: The National Bank for Agriculture & Rural Development (NABARD) has estimated the exploitable credit potential for priority sectors in the state for 2019-’20 at Rs 625.81 crore, which is 1.34 percent higher than last year’s figure of Rs 617.48 crore, as indicated in the bank’s State Focus Paper 2019-’20.
“NABARD estimates every year the sector-wise exploitable potentials for Ground Level Credit (GLC) flow from financial institutions to different priority sector activities for all the districts and the same is aggregated at the state level in the form of the State Focus Paper. Normally, it is presumed that the realization of these exploitable potentials requires support from government in the form of technology support, creation of
sector-specific infrastructure, etc. However, the backers also need to be proactive in providing need-based credit support to farmers and entrepreneurs,” it said in a statement.
The document was unveiled by Trade & Commerce Minister Wangki Lowang during the state credit seminar conducted here by the NABARD on Wednesday.
Lowang suggested that support for agriculture marketing infrastructure should be availed by the state government under RIDF. He requested the NABARD to come out with new ideas and policies which could help the economy of the state grow at a faster rate.
He opined that “the agriculture sector mitigates a lot many problems of the common man, provided they are guided properly in choosing the activities they can manage, and also suitable financial support.”
EPWRF director J Dennis Rajkumar said the poor credit-deposit ratio in the state, at 25%, “is a reason for great worry, since money deposited by the people of Arunachal Pradesh is not ploughed back in the state, and this ratio further worsens when the CD ratio is calculated by taking into account the loan given for only productive purposes, which turns out to be just 11%.”
NABARD General Manager Gyanendra Mani informed that the bank is willing to help the state government by “collaborating information and nurturing 50 farmers-producers organizations (FPO), as the NABARD has a dedicated fund for promotion of FPOs.”
Planning & Investment Special Secretary Himanshu Gupta said the major portion of financial support for the development of various sectors of the economy comes from the state government and not from the banking sector.
“There is need to fuel credit not only to the agriculture sector but also to industry and the private sectors,” Gupta opined.
He requested the NABARD and the banking sector to upscale financial support in the state. He also appealed to the bankers to “come forward for credit support under three flagship programmes, ie, CM Krishi Rinn Yojana, Bunkar Yojana, and Swalamban Yojana.”
RGU Vice Chancellor Dr Saket Kushwaha opined that “loan waivers at frequent intervals are polluting the recovery environment,” while Land Development Secretary SK Jain expressed concern over the low credit flow to the agriculture and allied sectors, compared to the potential available in the state.
Jain gave assurance that all the farmers in the state would be given ownership right of the land possessed by them by March 2019. He also indicated that the state government is willing to come out with any policy which may be beneficial for the farmers and entrepreneurs, provided suggestions to this effect are made to the government.
Cooperation Secretary Onit Panyang said the poor credit flow in the state was “also because of poor NPA, which is on account of poor loan appraisal by the banks.
“The banks are also not properly appraising the strengths and weaknesses of the borrowers who come to the banks,” he said, and expressed concern over a major portion of loans “going as personal loans and not for productive purposes.”
