Nabard Extends ₹20,500-cr Special Liquidity Facility To Co-op Banks, RRBs

Money & Banking

Mumbai | Updated on May 18, 2020 Published on May 18, 2020

Our Bureau

The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard), on Monday, said it has extended ₹20,500-crore special liquidity facility to co-operative banks (₹15,200 crore) and Regional Rural Banks (₹5,300 crore) in various States.

This is against the ₹5,000 crore lent during the first quarter of the last year, Nabard said in a statement. The special liquidity facility is with a view to augment the resources of the Cooperative banks and RRBs to enable them to extend credit to farmers for taking up pre-monsoon and kharif (summer sown crops) 2020 operations, it added.

As part of the government’s overall ₹20-lakh-crore special Covid-19 package, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had mentioned last week that Nabard would extend additional refinance support of ₹30,000 crore for crop loan requirement of Rural Co-operative Banks and RRBs.

This is over and above the ₹90,000 crore to be provided byNabard through the normal refinance route during this year, she added.

This front-loaded on-tap refinance facility to 33 State Co-operative banks, 351 District Co-operative Banks, and 43 RRBs will be available on tap, based on their lending .

Meanwhile, Nabard said cooperative banks and RRBs have initiated a programme of saturation of KCC (kisan credit cards) and about 12 lakh new KCC cards have been issued by them during the last two months. A total of 4.2 crore KCCs have been issued by Cooperative banks & RRBs as on 31 March, it added.

Nabard is a development financial institution, promoting sustainable and equitable agriculture and rural development.

Published on May 18, 2020