Crop loans in 2011-12 likely to be Rs 50,000 cr: NABARD

NEW DELHI: Crop loans of about Rs 50,000 crore are likely to be sanctioned in the current fiscal, NABARD Chairman Prakash Bakshi said on Monday.

"Already Rs 38,000 crore has been sanctioned so far and this figure is likely to reach Rs 40,000 crore. In the coming Rabi season, we will refinance Rs 10,000 crore," he said at a function of NCUI ( National Cooperative Union of India).

NABARD refinance for agriculture in the current financial year, including both short-term and long-term loans, is likely to be Rs 5.20 lakh crore against the target of Rs 4.75 lakh crore, according to a NCUI release.

Recapitalisation of NABARD amounting to Rs 1,000 crore is likely this year.

Delivering the 16th Vaikunthbhai Mehta Memorial Lecture here organised by the NCUI, Bakshi said that the credit cooperatives with its vast network can be the important vehicle for inclusive growth in the country.

He suggested professionalisation of primary agriculture cooperative societies (PACS).

"NABARD has formulated an institutional protection and deposit safety scheme for PACS on the lines of similar schemes operating in Germany and Hungary," he said.

With ever increasing number of small and marginal farmers, and hence oral tenancy, aggregation models for financing, agronomic practices, inputs supply, use of equipment, marketing and processing were urgently required, he said adding to this end, the cooperatives can play an effective role.

Adviser (Agriculture) to the Planning Commission, Surinder Singh said that the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-2017) will be based on inclusive growth particularly focusing on health, food, education and employment, the NCUI release said.

There will be a separate chapter for cooperative reforms, he said and urged the cooperatives to play a greater role in financial inclusion.

NCUI President Chandra Pal Singh Yadav suggested that the cooperatives can play a greater role for the upliftment of the weak and marginal section of the society, particularly when the world is facing a financial crisis.