Bhubaneswar: The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) conducted the State Credit Seminar for 2024-25 here Wednesday. During the seminar, the ‘State Focus Paper for Odisha’ was released. The paper projected an overall credit potential under priority sector at Rs 2,00,608 crore for FY 2024-25. The seminar was chaired by Development Commissionercum-Additional Chief Secretary Anu Garg in the presence of Principal Secretary, (Finance) Vishal Kumar Dev; Agriculture and Farmers’ Empowerment Principal Secretary Arabinda Kumar Padhee RBI regional director SP Mohanty, SLBC convenor Goutam Patra and controlling heads of banks and other dignitaries from banking and state government departments and district development managers belonging to NABARD from various districts.
Welcoming the dignitaries, Sudhanshu KK Mishra CGM NABARD emphasised the concerted efforts required for achieving the set targets for the current fiscal and increasing the credit flow to the priority sector in Odisha. He added the importance of resilient agriculture in shaping the future of agri economy in the state. He also highlighted the activities taken up by NABARD like canopy management in collaboration with Central Horticulture Experiment Station (CHES). Farmers from all over the state have been trained to develop 100 nurseries, watersheds, and WADIs promoted by NABARD. Gupta also stressed that NABARD will make an all-out effort to have a partnership with the Odisha government for the development of the state. Garg congratulated NABARD for completing the credit planning exercise on time and stated that it has been a major partner for the state government in implementation, creation of rural infrastructure, and scaling up operations. She advised stakeholders to ensure that efforts are made to achieve the potential plan that has been presented by NABARD. Dev said that credit flow from banks to the priority sector in Odisha has been good so far. However, there is a need for urgent improvement and attention as the credit plan for the state should be 40 per cent of GSDP which is around Rs 3.50 lakh crore.