National Bank For Agriculture and Rural Development is one of the most prestigious banks of India that warmly catering to the requirements of agricultural and rural development. NABARD was set up in July 1982 to refocus the rural banking, especially its mission to foster rural prosperity for inclusive growth.
Key Functions of NABARD
- Agricultural credit: The list of the types of agricultural institutions that National Bank For Agriculture and Rural Development assists includes commercial banks, cooperative banks, and regional rural banks. It also assists these institutions to provide credit for farming purposes including crop growing, animal farming and fish farming.
- Rural development: NABARD also funds some of the development activities in rural areas through funding activities such as infrastructure, irrigation, micro financing and Rural industries. This assist in developing employment opportunities and also uplift the lives of most people living in the rural regions.
- Policy formulation: Policies and strategies pertaining to agriculture and rural development, which are implemented by NABARD have significant role in the development of country. The bank plays a prominent role in carrying out research or studies on the needs of the sector and it makes recommendations made for solving the same.
- Capacity building: Organizing Farmer and Rural Entrepreneur Training, Bankers’ training and capacity-building programs are also offered to the stakeholders. These help to increase their capabilities and know-how they can bring in the growth of the agriculture and rural strands.
- Microfinance: NABARD has been supporting microfinance as long as it is a system whereby a small amount of money is given to the rural poor for business purposes. This has achieve women and marginalized groups, promoting economic citizenship and poverty decrease.
Impact of NABARD
It has done commendable work for the development of agriculture and rural India through the assistance of NABARD. Through its various initiatives, the bank has helped to:
- Enhance food production and production efficiency
- Enhance the quality of life of rural peoples
- Fight poverty and inequality
- Hire resources to fund rural enterprises
- Enhance the existing sources of funding in rural setting
Challenges and future outlook
Despite its achievements, NABARD faces several challenges, including:
- Increasing NPAs in Agricultural credit sector
- Global warming and its effects towards farming
- Insufficient availability of infrastructure in the country especially in the rural regions.
- Credit crunch to novity and marginal farmers
To overcome these challenges, further opportunity and challenges delineated for NABARD are as under: NABARD has to strive and innovate in order to meet new needs of agriculture and rural sector. The bank can exploit new financial solutions and retail platforms to extend the coverage of financial services. It can also better engage other stakeholders such as government, NGOs and private sectors in using their resources and best practices in development.
On the whole, the paper is stressed that National Bank For Agriculture and Rural Development is substantially promotes the agricultural lift and rural welfare in India. Through supporting credit, capacity development, policy advice, lives of millions of people in rural areas have transformed through the bank. In future scenarios the necessity for agricultural and rural sector development will further rise and keeping the nation’s uplifting procedures in mind NABARD will also have to expand and change with the requirements.
