Record Rs 7,678 crore NABARD financing to Kerala in 2014-15

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala received an-all time high financing of Rs 7,678 crore from the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) during 2014-15, with agriculture loans accounting for over Rs 5,300 crore.

Giving details of finance provided to the state, NABARD said an amount of Rs 1,200 crore was sanctioned from the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund.

An aggregate amount of Rs 5,348 crore was disbursed as agriculture loans to the Kerala State Cooperative Bank, Kerala State Coooperative Agriculture and Rural Development Bank and Kerala Gramin Bank to support their lending operations to farmers, a NABARD release said here today.

In an effort to strengthen the cooperative Credit structure, the primary agriculture co-operatives societies were sanctioned Rs 25 crore for diversifying their business portfolio.

The bank, as a pilot initiative, had extended Rs 10 crore to Primary cooperative Banks for lending to the rural housing sector, the release added.