Nabard disburses Rs 12,767 crore to state coop banks, RRBs for onlending to farmers

Mumbai: The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) on Tuesday said it has disbursed Rs 12,767 crore to state cooperative banks and regional rural banks for onlending to famers. The loans are being offered for one year at an interest rate of 4.8 per cent, Nabard said in a release.

The loan has been disbursed under a refinance scheme by Nabard from its own resources and was given this week, it said.

“An amount of Rs 12,767 crore has been disbursed this week to StCBs and RRBs across the country in a bid to augment their resources during the ongoing lockdown conditions for extending credit to farmers,” Nabard said.

Last month, the Reserve Bank of India had announced to provide Rs 25,000 crore to Nabard for refinancing regional rural banks (RRBs), cooperative banks and micro finance institutions (MFIs).

The development finance institute is yet to disburse any amount from the RBI’s refinance window.

Nabard said since the second half of March 2020, it has disbursed nearly Rs 30,021 crore to rural banks.

It has extended refinance to rural banks in 15 states so far including Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.