(a) whether the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has proposed to start any scheme for providing financial assistance to cooperative banks functioning in rural areas of the country;
(b) if so, the details thereof along with the purpose for which this assistance is to be provided; and
(c) the details of such assistance is to be provided during each of the last three years and the current year, State/UT/Bank-wise?
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE
(a) to (c): National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) provides short term refinance to Cooperative Banks through Short Term Cooperative Rural Credit (Refinance) Fund (STCRC Fund). The fund is sustained through contributions by Scheduled Commercial Banks out of their shortfall in achievement of priority sector lending targets. Such refinance is provided to the Cooperative Banks for their crop loan lending at an interest rate of 4.5% per annum, provided the Banks lend to the ultimate borrowers at an interest rate of 7% per annum upto an amount of Rs.3 lakh per borrower.
State wise refinance provided by NABARD to Cooperative Banks through STCRCF for last 3 years is given in Annexure I.
Further, to encourage long term investment credit in agriculture, NABARD provides refinance support to Cooperative Banks through Long Term Rural Credit Fund (LTRCF) at a concessional rate of interest for their lending towards investment activities in agriculture.
State wise refinance provided by NABARD to Cooperative Banks through LTRCF for last 3 years is given in Annexure II.
In addition to above, NABARD provides the following assistance to Cooperative Banks:
(i) Additional Short Term refinance for Seasonal Agricultural Operations – {ST(SAO)}:
Additional ST(SAO) refinance is extended as supplementary resources to Cooperative Banks against their lending for Seasonal Agricultural Operations. The refinance under this line of credit is eligible for interest subvention as per extant interest subvention guidelines of Government of India. The interest rate charged by NABARD at present is 7.35%. However, with 2% interest subvention the effective interest rate comes to 5.35%.
State wise refinance provided by NABARD to Cooperative Banks through Additional ST(SAO) for last 3 years is given in Annexure III.
(ii) Short Term Refinance (Others) {STR(O})
STR(O) is extended to Cooperative Banks against their short term lending at ground level towards other than Seasonal Agricultural Operations.
State wise refinance provided by NABARD to Cooperative Banks through Short Term Refinance (Others) for last 3 years is given in Annexure IV.
Financial Inclusion Fund (FIF):-
Financial assistance is provided through schemes implemented under FIF maintained by NABARD for Cooperative Banks functioning in rural areas of the country. The details of such assistance provided during each of the last three years and current year, State-wise is given at Annexure V.
Cooperative Development Fund (CDF):-
NABARD provides policy level support and guidance for the functioning of the cooperative sector. NABARD also provides financial support by way of grant, loan and grant cum loan from its CDF to the cooperative Credit institutions.
The various purposes for which CDF assistance is available to Cooperative Credit Institution are mainly (1) Scheme of Financial Assistance for Training of Cooperative Bank Personnel (SOFTCOB), (2) Primary Agriculture Cooperative Societies (PACS) Development Cell (3) Infrastructure assistance to PACS (4) Human Resource Capacity Building measures (5) Studies, Organisation Development Initiative (ODIs) workshops and training. The details of assistance provided under CDF are furnished in Annexure VI.
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