Nabard ups credit potential of state to ₹1.6 lakh-crore

Bhubaneswar: The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) has projected credit potential under priority sector for the state at Rs 1.60 lakh crore for 2023-24, up from Rs 1.34 lakh crore for the current 2022-23 financial year.
C Udayabhaskar, chief general manager, Nabard, said the bank has set the priority sector target for 2023-24 at 19% higher than that of 2022-23. He said concerted efforts need to be made to increase the credit flow to the priority sector and agriculture and allied sectors in particular.
He said in order to increase the area under irrigation and expansion of rabi crops, Nabard has stepped up its support to Odisha under the rural infrastructure, tribal, watershed and micro entrepreneurship development among women self-help groups and other development activities leading to growth in rural livelihood.
Earlier, Odisha finance minister Niranjan Pujari inaugurated a credit seminar and emphasised the need to increase the bank credit for priority sector in Odisha. He urged bankers to come forward and finance value chains and innovative new-age projects for furthering the development of the agriculture sector and increasing the income of farmers.
Finance secretary Vishal Kumar Dev said the credit flow from banks to the priority sector in Odisha needs a lot of urgent improvement and attention. He called for removal of regional disparity in the state in terms of financial services and coordinated efforts for paving way for sustained development. He asked all banks to achieve the set targets and increase the bar.