The Potential Linked Credit Plan (PLP) drawn up by National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) projects a credit flow potential of ₹7,671.95 crore to the priority sector in Thanjavur district during 2019-20.
The credit estimates, which is 7% more than the current financial year, projects the potential for crop loans at ₹4,182.01 crore. Considering the need for promoting capital formation in agriculture and allied sector, the credit potential for term loans for agriculture sector has been projected at ₹1,013.95 crore, taking the total projections for farm credit to ₹5,195.96 crore.
The plan projects a credit potential of ₹522.51 crore for MSME sector in the district.
N. Sakthivel, District Revenue Officer, urged bankers to consider extending additional credit support to rebuild assets damaged due to cyclone Gaja in the district. He called upon banks and non-banking financial institutions to reschedule their loans in view of the damages caused by the cyclone. NBFCs should not press cyclone affected creditors to repay their debts, he said.
K. Subramanian, District Development Manager, NABARD, Thanjavur, said the estimation of crop loan in the PLP had been done based on the scale of financing of crops and their likely area of cultivation during the next year.
It was important to raise awareness of various opportunities in agriculture and allied areas such as farm mechanisation, dairy farming, sheep/goat farming and poultry by the departments concerned to tap potential. Besides, it was important to promote sustainable agriculture by encouraging rainwater harvesting structures and water-saving devices such as drip and sprinkler systems, he said.
Thiyagarajan, Assistant General Manager, RBI, Lakshmi Narasimhan, Chief Regional, Manager, Indian Overseas Bank, R.Varadarajan, Regional Manager, State Bank of India, Thanjavur, J. Srinivasan, Lead District Manager, IOB, and other officials were present on the occasion.
Mr. Lakshminarasimhan said a background paper based on the PLP would be circulated by the Lead bank, along with the block-wise/activity-wise potential identified in the plan.