Nabard sanctions Rs 801 cr for developing rural infrastructure in WB

KOLKATA: The National Bank for Agriculture & Rural Development (Nabard) has sanctioned Rs 801 crore in 2008-09 for developing rural infrastructure in West Bengal, exceeding the initial allocation of Rs 761 crore for the state. This is by far the highest sum Nabard sanctioned in the financial year for the state's rural social overhead projects.

This is also a good 37% rise in terms of projects sanctioned compared to 2007-08 s Rs 584 crore. The funds were sanctioned under the central government's Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF), for which Nabard is the nodal agency. This year, Nabard completed the annual RIDF allocation for a majority of the states much before the end of the fiscal to March 31, 2009, in order to bring in better discipline in sanctioning projects and avoiding a last minute rush.

Nabard has announced the RIDF position on Tuesday on the eve of unveiling the state focus paper for West Bengal for the fiscal 2009-2010. The state focus paper indicates how to improve channeling bank credit to the priority sector in a state.

In West Bengal, the focus would be on agriculture credit in the backdrop of the government's debt waiver and debt
relief scheme, on deepening of micro credit, RIDF as well as financial inclusion.

Compared to West Bengal's position, Nabard has sanctioned Rs 1,200-odd crore in 2008-09
under RIDF for Andhra Pradesh's rural infrastructure projects. It sanctioned Rs 900 crore for a single irrigation project in Madhya Pradesh.

The West Bengal government has submitted proposals worth Rs 980 crore in 2008-09, of which Rs 801 crore has been cleared by our central office, Nabard chief general manager in Kolkata P Mohanaiah said. He mentioned that projects worth Rs 146 crore have been sanctioned last week, taking the total sanction amount in 2008-09 to Rs 801 crore.

This financial year, Nabard has disbursed Rs 358 crore so far for West Bengal, compared to last fiscal s disbursement of Rs 376 crore. We are hopeful to disburse another Rs 250 crore by March 2009. It disburses funds depending upon the progress of the projects sanctioned.

Since inception of RIDF in 1995-96, Nabard has sanctioned more than 30,000 projects with a loan component of Rs 5,372 crore to West Bengal.