National Paper – PLP – 2022-23

1. Policy Initiatives - NABARD

1.1 Long-Term Refinance

To ensure increased and uninterrupted credit flow to farmers, as also to give a boost
to capital formation in the agriculture sector, NABARD provided refinance to the
Cooperative Banks and RRBs out of Long Term Rural Credit Fund, at a reasonable rate
of interest. An amount of Rs.14,481.50 crore was allocated for the year 2020-21.

1.2 Short-Term Refinance

Short Term Cooperative Rural Credit - STCRC (Refinance) Fund was set up in
NABARD in 2008-09 to provide Short Term refinance to Cooperatives for their crop
loans. The allocation for the year 2020-21 was Rs. 44,644.50 crore.

Short Term RRB (Refinance) Fund was set up in NABARD in 2012-13 to provide Short
Term refinance to RRBs for their crop loans. The allocation for the year 2020-21 is Rs.
9,921 crore.

Initiatives taken during the year (2020-21)

● Disbursement of Rs.25500 crore was made under Special Liquidity Facility (SLF-
1) to Cooperative Banks, RRBs and NBFCs (Rs.16800 crore to Cooperative Banks,
Rs.6,700 crore to RRBs and Rs.2,000 crore to NBFCs) for unhindered flow of
credit to banks and farmers in the wake of the lockdown due to COVID-19
pandemic.
● Additional SLF of Rs.1,567 crore was provided to NBFCs/ NBFC-MFIs with asset
size less than Rs.500 crore.
● SLF to SCARDBs of Rs.783 crore was provided as front ended liquidity support
from NABARD’s own funds.
● Allocation of 25% of STRRB and LTRCF was made to aspirational and credit
starved districts.
● Preliminary eligibility criteria for RRBs for availing refinance was revised and set
on the basis of internal risk rating by NABARD.

1.3 Special Refinance Schemes - To address the issue of reverse migration, give
boost to the agriculture & rural sector and income generating activities and focus on
health and hygiene, NABARD introduced following special refinance schemes at
concessional rates to eligible financial institutions:

i. PACSs as Multi Service Centers (MSCs) - NABARD introduced Special

refinance scheme to saturate all the potential PACS for conversion as Multi
Service Centres, over a period of three years commencing from the year 2020-
21. The scheme intends to develop all the potential PACS as Multi Service
Centres (MSCs) over a period of three years commencing from the year 2020-
2021 by providing concessional refinance to StCBs at 3% to support PACS to
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create quality infrastructure (capital assets) and increase their business

portfolio in tune with needs of members. Under this line of credit, NABARD has
envisaged transformation of 35,000 PACS in three years commencing with the
transformation of 5,000 PACS in FY21. During 2020-21, 3055 PACS were given
in-principle sanction by NABARD with estimated Project cost of Rs.1,760.82
crore and estimated loan of Rs.1,568 crore.
ii. Scheme for beneficiaries of Watershed and Wadi project areas - The
objectives of the scheme are to promote sustainable economic activities,
livelihood and employment opportunities for the beneficiaries in NABARD
supported watershed and wadi project areas by encouraging banks to lend at
concessional rate to these beneficiaries to address the issue of rural migration
and to give boost to the agriculture and rural sector in the post COVID era.
Refinance is available to all the eligible banks/FIs at 3% for maximum period
of 5 years. The ultimate lending rate to be charged by banks/FIs under the
scheme is revised as 06 months MCLR+1% or EBLR+2.5%, whichever is lower.
NABARD has earmarked refinance amount of Rs.5,000 crore during 2020-21
to 2022-23. During FY 2020-21, refinance of Rs.126.80 crore has been
disbursed under this product.
iii. Scheme for promoting Micro Food Processing Activities - The
objective of the scheme is to encourage banks to lend micro-food processing
activities and create sustainable livelihood and employment opportunities for
rural youth as well as reverse migrants due to COVID-19 pandemic in the rural
areas. The scheme also envisages modernization and enhancing the
competitiveness of the existing individual micro enterprises and ensure their
transition to formal sector in rural areas. The refinance scheme will give fillip
to the recently launched “PM Scheme for Formalisation of Micro Food
Processing Enterprises (PM FME)” under Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan by
MoFPI, GoI. Concessional refinance at 4% is available to eligible financial
institutions viz., commercial banks, SFBs, StCBs, RRBs and NABARD
Subsidiaries.
iv. Special refinance scheme on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene
(WASH) - A Model Refinance Scheme on WASH activities has been prepared
keeping in view the need to protect human health during infectious disease
outbreaks, especially in the times of on-going COVID-19 pandemic. WASH has
been conceptualized by NABARD to enable banks to provide credit to
entrepreneurs for building social infrastructure relating to drinking water
facilities, sanitation facilities including construction/ refurbishment of
household toilets and health care facilities.

v. Extension of interest subvention benefits for extended period from March 2020
to 31 August 2020 and from March 2021 to June 2021
vi. COVID-19 deferment of loan instalments for client borrowers of NABARD.

vii. KCC Saturation Drive to cover PM Kisan Samman Scheme

beneficiaries who do not possess Kisan Credit Cards - Department of
 National Paper – PLP – 2022-23

Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers’ Welfare, Ministry of Agriculture and

Farmers’ Welfare, Govt. of India, has launched a campaign from 08.02.2020 to
cover all PM Kisan Samman Scheme beneficiaries under Kisan Credit Cards.
Adequate publicity and awareness campaigns were conducted to ensure
maximum coverage. Phase-II of KCC Saturation- As a part of the Atmanirbhar
Bharat Package, the Government has announced to cover 2.5 crore farmers
under the Kisan Credit Card (KCC) scheme with a credit boost of Rs.2 lakh crore
through a special saturation drive. Department of Animal Husbandry and
Dairying, Govt. of India also decided to simultaneously launch a special drive
to provide KCC to 1.5 crore dairy farmers belonging to milk unions and milk
producing companies and 1 crore fish farmers. As a result of concerted and
sustained efforts by Cooperative Banks and RRBs in this direction of providing
access to concessional credit to the farmers, the progress during the year is as
under:
Phase No. of KCCs Limits sanctioned (Rs.
(Lakh Crore)
I 12.58 8,499.86
II (As on 58.56 47,685.68
31.05.2021)

viii. Government Sponsored Programmes with Bank Credit - The

Administrative approval conveying the continuation of the followings subsidy
schemes for 2020-21 (till 30 June 2021) has been received from the GoI:
● Agri Clinics and Agri Business Centers Scheme (ACABC).
● National Livestock Mission for Entrepreneurship Development & Employment
Generation (EDEG), component of National Livestock Mission, Poultry
Venture Capital Fund (PVCF), Integrated Development of Small Ruminants
and Rabbit (IDSRR), Pig Development (PD), Salvaging and Rearing of Male
Buffalo Calves (SRMBC), Effective Animal Waste Management, Construction
of Storage Facility for Feed and Fodder.
● Revised AMI sub scheme of ISAM - Communication from GoI regarding
continuation of the scheme during 2021-22 is awaited.

1.4 Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF)

The major policy changes and initiatives during 2020-21 were as under:
1. The corpus under RIDF was increased from Rs. 30,000 crore to Rs. 40,000
crore, as announced in Union Budget 2021-22.
2. Total sanctions of Rs. 34,830 crore and disbursements of Rs. 29,193 crore were
made during the year to various State/UT Governments.
3. Normative Allocation parameters for state-wise sanctions, under RIDF, were
fine-tuned to include rural poverty and per capita priority sector credit flow.
4. The phasing of projects sanctioned under RIDF XX and XXI was extended up to
30 September 2021 and reimbursement of expenditure was allowed upto 31
December 2021.
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5. To ensure better quality control and supervision through specialised agencies,

the expenses on account of Quality Control/PMC/Supervisory Charges/Third
Party Monitoring are considered under RIDF upto a maximum of 2% of eligible
project cost, wherever an external agency is engaged by the State Government.
6. A dedicated Web-portal and Mobile App for digitization of RIDF operations and
real time monitoring of projects was launched.
7. A corporate film on completion of 25 years of RIDF was launched during the
year.

8. Important Funds:

A. Micro Irrigation Fund (MIF)

 MIF with a corpus of Rs.5000 crore was operationalized in NABARD in 2019-
20 with the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (MoA&FW), GoI being
the Nodal Ministry. The fund was fully utilised and the GoI announced
additional allocation of Rs.5,000 crore in the Union Budget for 2021-22.
● MIF facilitated State Govts’. efforts in mobilizing additional resources and
incentivizing its adoption beyond provisions of Pradhan Mantri Krishi
Sinchayee Yojana - Per Drop More Crop.
● During 2020-21, loan amount of Rs.1128.60 crore was sanctioned and
Rs.1827.47 crore was released. As on 31 March 2021, the cumulative loan
sanctioned and released under MIF was Rs. 3970.17 crore and Rs.1827.47 crore,
respectively.

B. Long Term Irrigation Fund (LTIF)

 LTIF was operationalized in NABARD in 2016-17 for fast tracking completion
of 99 identified Medium and Major Irrigation projects. Under LTIF, NABARD
provides loan towards Central Share as well as State Share. During 2020-21,
loan amount of Rs.2461.84 crore was sanctioned and Rs.7761.20 crore was
released. As on 31 March 2021, the cumulative loan sanctioned and released
stood at Rs.84326.60 crore and Rs.52479.71 crore, respectively.

C. Pradhan Mantri Aawas Yojna - Grameen (PMAY-G)

● PMAY-G aims at providing a pucca house, with basic amenities, to all
households / households living in kutcha and dilapidated house, by 2022. Under
the scheme, NABARD has extended loan towards part funding of Central Share.
● Under PMAY-G, 2.95 crore houses (1 crore in Phase-I and 1.95 crore in Phase-
II) are targeted to be constructed from 2016-17 to 2021-22.
● During 2020-21, loan amount of Rs. 20,000.00 crore was sanctioned and
Rs.19999.80 crore was released towards part funding of Central share under
PMAY-G. As on 31 March 2021, the cumulative loan sanctioned and released
under PMAY-G stood at Rs.61,975.00 crore and Rs.48,819.03 crore,
respectively.
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D. Swachh Bharat Mission-Gramin (SBM-G)

● SBM-G was launched by Govt. of India on 2nd October 2014 with the goal to
achieve universal sanitation coverage in rural areas. Under the scheme,
NABARD extended loan during 2018-19 to 2019-20 towards part funding of
Central Share.
● The cumulative sanction and disbursement as on 31 March 2020 under SBM-
G stood at Rs. 15,000 crore and Rs. 12,298.20 crore, respectively.
● During 2018-19 and 2019-20, total 3.29 crore household toilets (2.23 crore in
2018-19 and 1.06 crore during 2019-20) were constructed (Source –MoJS,
GoI).

E. Rural Infrastructure Assistance to State Governments (RIAS)

NABARD launched a new product “Rural Infrastructure Assistance to State
Governments (RIAS)”, with an initial corpus of Rs. 15000 crore. Under RIAS,
NABARD will provide financial assistance to State Governments in Eastern
Region, for creating infrastructure that supports rural livelihoods, hinging on
5-J approach – Jan (Human being), Jal (Water), Jameen (Land), Janwar
(Livestock) & Jungle (Forest).

1.5 Initiatives on micro Finance

● Revision of grant support to JLGPIs: To incentivise promotion of JLGs, the

grant assistance to JLGPIs was enhanced from Rs.2,000/- to Rs.4,000/- per JLG.
● MEDP/LEDP: To strengthen NABARD’s efforts at skilling SHG members, the
grant assistance was enhanced for MEDPs to Rs. 1.00 lakh and for LEDPs to Rs.
8.80 lakh (Farm Sector) and to Rs. 7.15 lakh (Off Farm Sector).
● For 2020-21, the number of MEDPs has tripled and LEDPs doubled from previous
year to augment supply for skills required for rural employment.
● NABFINS as JLGPI: NABFINS was sanctioned a pilot project as a JLGPI in five
States of Assam, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Jharkhand for
a period of three years.
● MY PAD MY RIGHT: NABFOUNDATION, through LEDP channel, was
sanctioned the Project ‘My Pad My Right’ for Rs.1.99 crore for sanitary pad making
machine for producing/marketing the pads to provide livelihood opportunities to
SHGs and improve menstrual hygiene of rural women. During 2020-21, an amount
of Rs.1.59 crore has been utilized and machines have been installed in 33 districts.
● EShakti: As on 31 March 2021, the project was being implemented in 281 districts.
The data pertaining to 12.33 lakh SHGs (140.91 lakh members in 1.67 lakh villages
was on-boarded to EShakti portal). From 2021-22, the project will be implemented
in 130 districts of 16 States/UTs for a focused approach to reduce the credit gap.
EShakti portal was used for sending 40 lakh health advisory SMS to SHG members
and during the pandemic, the SHGs were also engaged for making face masks,
hand sanitizers, PPE kits, etc. for earning additional income.
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1.6 Financial Inclusion

Availability of financial support for Standard Schemes under FIF: Financial

support for the following activities was available from NABARD:-

Financial Literacy:

● Financial and Digital Literacy Camps, Financial Literacy Centres,

Reimbursement of Examination fee of BC/BF, Mobile Demo Vans and
Financial Literacy Centres (FLCs).
● Opening Kiosk Outlets in unbanked villages of North Eastern (NER) States.
● Setting up of Centre for Financial Literacy (CFL)

Banking Technology:
● Deployment of microATM and PoS/mPoS devices, for on-boarding to BHIM
UPI Platform, for on-boarding to Public Financial Management System,
Implementing Green PIN facility at ATMs and/or microATMs for RuPay Kisan
Card activation and On-boarding to Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS).

Regulatory requirements:
● On-boarding to Central KYC Registry (CKYCR) and Support to obtain
AUA/KUA membership of UIDAI.

Connectivity and Power Infrastructure:

● V-SATs deployment in SFDs, Mobile signal boosters’ deployment in SFDs and
Solar panel/UPS deployment in SFDs.

New initiatives taken during the year 2020-21:

i. Green PIN facility at ATMs and/or microATMs for RuPay Kisan Card activation
was launched under which one-time implementation and application
development cost for enabling Green PIN facility is reimbursed.
ii. Scaling up of the Centre for Financial Literacy (CFL) Project (a Pilot Project of
Reserve Bank of India) to 200 CFLs which envisages one CFL per 3 blocks.
iii. Support for on-boarding to Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS) was launched
to encourage banks to give rural customers benefits of online bill payments. One
time integration cost of the Bank with the Bharat Bill Payment Operating Unit
(BBPOU) will be reimbursed.
iv. Support extended to RCBs, in addition to CBs and RRBs for opening Kiosk
outlets in unbanked villages of North Eastern States through BCs for providing
comprehensive financial services in unbanked villages with population less
than 500.
v. The support for components under connectivity and power infrastructure
schemes viz. VSAT deployment, Mobile Signal Boosters deployed and solar
power unit / UPS deployment has been extended to all districts.
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1.7 Farm Sector Policy – Important Initiatives

I. Sustainable livelihood & NRM- Watershed and Tribal development

Project
i. 101 new watershed projects were sanctioned, covering an area of 1 lakh ha and
an amount of Rs.90.42 crore was disbursed.
ii. A separate web portal and mobile ‘app’ was developed for uploading data on
watershed projects.
iii. 103 KfW Soil projects viz. SEWOH II & III (One World, No Hunger) were under
implementation in 5 States.
iv. An in-house Remote Sensing Cell was established to strengthen the monitoring
of watershed projects at NABARD, HO and 39 on-going WDF projects were
hosted on the NABARD Bhuvan portal.
v. Under Tribal Development Programme, 51 projects were sanctioned. Out of the
financial target of Rs.108.00 crore, an amount of Rs.93.08 crore was disbursed.
vi. 04 agri-allied (non-wadi based) TDF projects were sanctioned in Chhattisgarh
(apiculture), Tamil Nadu (animal husbandry), Telangana (micro-enterprise
development) and West Bengal (pig and goat rearing) under Tribal
Development Fund.
vii. The exercise of GIS mapping of wadi projects was taken up with the support of
GIZ.

II. FPO Promotion

i. An amount of Rs.4.06 crore has been utilised under PODF. Under PODF-ID,
an amount of Rs.68.25 crore has been utilised during the year.
ii. Under Central Sector Scheme on Formation and Promotion of 10,000 FPOs,
NABARD has sanctioned 655 FPOs as against the target of 600 FPOs and 257
CBBOs have been empanelled.
iii. BIRD, Lucknow as the Nodal Training Institute for Central Sector Scheme on
FPOs developed 5 basic training modules for FPOs and other stakeholders.
iv. Steps have been initiated to set up a Credit Guarantee Fund of Rs.1000 crore
with matching contributions from GoI and NABARD under
NABSANRAKSHAN, a subsidiary of NABARD.

III. FSPF – Innovations & Technology Transfer

Under Farm Sector Promotion Fund (FSPF), an amount of Rs.17.67 crore was
disbursed during 2020-21, as against the budget of Rs.22.00 crore.
Developmental pilots for improving farmers’ income and for augmenting
capacity building, etc. under Beekeeping, Horticulture, Medicinal plants,
Livestock, etc. were the major areas supported under FSPF during the year.

IV. Fostering Partnership

i. NABARD entered into an MOU with APEDA for promotion of agri exports. The
potential of FPOs will be leveraged for encouraging exports.
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ii. Grant assistance to MCCIA, Pune was sanctioned for establishing Agriculture
Export Facilitation Centre (AEFC) which shall function as a ‘One Stop Centre’
for agri export services and capacity building of farmers in traceability, Good
Agriculture Practices, etc.
iii. NABARD entered into an MoU with ICAR to collaborate in facilitating action
research and up-scaling of various technologies / innovative farming models
developed by ICAR, including successful climate resilient sustainable farming
models and integrated / high-tech farming practices in participatory mode,
through adapting research on watershed platform.

V. Climate Action
i. Under climate change initiatives, NABARD has released an amount of
Rs.135.07 crore under the three funding mechanisms viz. Adaptation Fund
(AF), Green Climate Fund (GCF) and National Adaptation Fund for Climate
Change (NAFCC).
ii. Under Climate Change Fund (CCF), an amount of Rs.0.97 crore was
disbursed, for activities like co-sponsorship towards World Sustainable
Development Summit 2021, installation of Customized Automated Weather
Stations in Nagaland, etc.
iii. Developed a Web Portal and Mobile App, for digitization of all
data/information pertaining to physical & financial progress, monitoring
observations along with photos of pre & post development scenarios in
Climate Change adaptation /mitigation projects.

VI. COVID-19 Initiatives

i. Status notes on major agri-allied sectors were prepared viz. Horticulture,
Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Water Resources.
ii. Out of box solutions were provided by FPOs promoted by NABARD to restore
disrupted supply chain using digital technologies, adoption of farm to home
delivery mechanism, ensuring timely supply of critical inputs to farmer
members, extending helping hand to migrant labour and sanitary workers, etc.

1.8 Off Farm Sector Initiatives

1. Initiatives during COVID-19
⮚ A mega project on “Rapid Reskilling and Quick Employment for 10,000
Reverse Migrants” was supported in Uttar Pradesh (Raebareli, Gorakhpur,
Mirzapur, Maharajganj and Allahabad), Bihar (Muzaffarpur, Vaishali, Rohtas
and Gaya) and Jharkhand (Hazaribagh).
⮚ NABARD collaborated with NSDC affiliated training institutes for capacity
building of rural youth in new age skills like Mechatronics, Arc welding,
Refrigeration, etc.
⮚ NABARD supported projects for training rural women in the manufacturing of
face masks and PPE kits that were in much demand to adhere to the Covid-19
protocols.
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⮚ NABARD partnered with CSR corporates like Ambuja Cement Foundation,

Lupin Human Welfare and Research Foundation, ‘TATA Strive’ to provide
capacity building of rural youth with skills and linking them with placement or
self-employment.
⮚ NABARD supported online training programmes to build capacity, develop
entrepreneurship as well as to connect the producers to the markets.
⮚ Revolving Fund Assistance of Rs.5 lakh each to 22 registered OFPOs for
restarting their business activities impacted by COVID 19 was provided.
2 The rural mart scheme was revised to permit purchase of mobile vans by PACS and
Producer Organisations to serve as mobile rural marts.
3 Virtual B2B Exhibition was organised for OFPOs to provide opportunities to rural
producers to bring their products closer to the users.
4 Rural/Agri business Incubation Centres - As on date, NABARD has supported 7
Rural/Agri Business Incubation Centres with total financial support of Rs.63.29
crore. These 7 centres will provide direct and indirect benefit to about 22 lakh
farmers.
5 Catalytic Capital Fund (CCF) – To support start-ups in farm and non-farm sector
in the stage of ‘Valley of Death’, NABARD sanctioned Rs.1.00 crore to MABIF, a
NABARD supported RBIC and Rs.5.00 crore to NABKisan Pvt Ltd, a NABARD
subsidiary, during 2020-21.
6 Promotion of GI Products - NABARD extended support for enabling GI registration
of 72 products, including Black Pottery (Nizamabad), Wall Hangings (Ghazipur),
Soft Stone Jali Work (Varanasi), Gulabi Minakari (Banaras), Handmade Dari
(Mirzapur), etc.
7 Launching of Sanitation Literacy Campaign - NABARD launched a campaign from
02 October 2020 to 26 January 2021 to create awareness on Water, Sanitation and
Hygiene (WASH) to sustain attitudinal changes for adopting safe sanitation and
hygiene practices covering about one lakh people in more than 2000 villages
benefitted from this awareness campaign.

1.9 Agri- Market Infrastructure Fund (AMIF)

● A dedicated Agri Market Infrastructure Fund (AMIF) with a corpus of Rs.2,000

crore was established with NABARD to provide low cost funds to the State
Governments for:
⮚ Upgradation of Rural Haats to Gramin Agriculture Markets (GrAMs)
⮚ Creation of electronic display mechanism and linking of GrAMs with
Agriculture Produce Market Committees (APMC); and
⮚ Upgradation of 585 e-NAM enabled APMCs.
MoA & FW GoI has issued the scheme guidelines to the State Governments