The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) today said it plans to disburse Rs 10,000 crore as financial assistance to Punjab for 2018-19.
Stating this, NABARD Chief General Manager J P S Bindra said NABARD had disbursed Rs 8,000 crore to Punjab for the agriculture and rural development in 2017-18.
To boost capital formation in agriculture, NABARD provided refinance of Rs 2,249.67 crore to various banks during 2017-18 which shall be increased to Rs 2,900 crore in the current year.
NABARD also proposed to increase the support under short term refinance during the current year which was Rs 5,258.26 crore during previous year for facilitating disbursement of crop loans at concessional interest rate to farmers by banks.
To encourage diversification of crops, NABARD prepared area development plans of Rs 1,918 crore for 2018-19 to promote dairy, vegetable cultivation, apiculture, mushroom growing which will supplement farmers’ income, he said.
