PNS | DEHRADUN
The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has estimated a credit potential of Rs 54,698 crore for Uttarakhand for the financial year 2025-26. This was disclosed in State focus paper-2025-26 released during the State Credit Seminar organised by the NABARD here on Thursday.
As per the paper, the credit potential of Uttarakhand for the year 2025-26 is 36 per cent more than last year. It has estimated total agricultural credit of Rs 19,306.96 crore, Rs 30,477.92 crore in MSME and Rs 4913.53 crore in other primary sectors for 2025-26.
Addressing the seminar, the chief secretary Radha Raturi said that the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) loan provided by the NABARD has given a special impetus to the development of infrastructure in the State. Terming migration as one of the major problems facing the State, the CS suggested that NABARD in collaboration with other agencies should start projects for solving the menace of migration. The CS said that district wise development plans can be made on the basis of credit potential of the districts. She said that solar energy holds immense potential for the State and it can create employment in the rural areas.
Additional chief secretary, Anand Bardhan said that due to migration, the number of people engaged in agricultural activities in mountainous areas of the State is decreasing and the agricultural land is getting converted into barren lands. He said that aspirational areas in every district should be identified with the help of an external agency and schemes related to them should be prepared and amalgamated into the state focus paper.
The chief general manager of NABARD, Pankaj Yadav said that agriculture and rural development, promotion of small scale industries, increasing financial literacy and micro finance are the priority areas for NABARD. He said that the focus paper includes different policy initiatives of the central and State government. Yadav said that NABARD is providing assistance to the State from its creation.
Secretary SN Pandey, general manager of Reserve Bank of India Dipti Agarwal, convenor of the State level bankers committee and GM of State Bank of India Deepesh Raj and others attended the seminar.
