The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) hosted a significant meeting to deliberate upon the progress of the Central Sponsored Project aimed at the computerization of Agricultural and Rural Development Banks (ARDBs). The event took place at the Nabard Head Office in Mumbai, drawing the participation of managing directors from several State Cooperative Agriculture and Rural Development Banks (SCARDBs).
Goverdhan S. Rawat, Deputy Managing Director of Nabard, took the lead in addressing the representatives of SCARDBs during the comprehensive discussions held throughout the day.
Key topics on the agenda included fortifying the long-term credit framework and reviewing a draft report prepared by Nabard Consultancy Service (NABCONS). The report outlined proposals for reforms, restructuring, and innovative measures within ARDBs, including the establishment of guarantee cover for deposits to boost depositor confidence.
Further discussions revolved around issues related to refinance and the financial performance assessment of SCARDBs and Primary Cooperative Agriculture and Rural Development Banks (PCARDBs) for the fiscal year 2022-23.
Expressing satisfaction with the outcomes of the meeting, a managing director of SCARDBs emphasized the significance of such gatherings in empowering and addressing challenges within the long-term credit structure.
Currently, there are 16 State Cooperative Agriculture & Rural Development Banks (SCARDBs), with 13 functioning fully, overseeing a network of 1,744 PCARDBs/branches. These institutions serve a substantial membership base of 1,10,84,964 rural households, with outstanding loans held by 65,30,812 members.
As of March 31, 2022, the total outstanding loans and borrowings of these banks stood at Rs 21341.06 crores and Rs 13337.10 crores respectively. Additionally, fully functional SCARDBs reported total deposits amounting to Rs 2257.67 crores.
The meeting’s significance was underscored by the recent inauguration of the computerization scheme for ARDBs by Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah.
However, concerns were raised by the National Cooperative Agriculture & Rural Development Banks Federation (Nafcard) Managing Director K K Ravindran, who noted his absence from the meeting despite being the apex body of ARDBs. Responding to this, Subrat Kumar Nanda, CGM at Nabard, clarified that the meeting was a review session and assured collaboration with Nafcard for future seminars, including one scheduled for April at Bird, Lucknow.