NABARD’s regional office in the State of Karnataka has signed a MoU with State Bank of India (SBI), LHO- Bengaluru to take up the joint intervention of projects and providing special support, concessional refinance, and capacity takeover of the stakeholders in NABARD’s livelihood projects. This cooperation will enable the development of rural areas and bring about rural prosperity to the state.
Tribal Development Fund (TDF), Watershed Development Fund (WDF), Farmer Producer Organization (FPOs), Self-Help Group (SHGs), and Joint Liability Groups (JLGs) are the ongoing projects of NABARD and SBI. The MoU will be more beneficial for farmers and 45,000 beneficiaries of 260 FPOs in 28 districts, 8,500 beneficiaries of 70 watersheds in 20 districts, and 15 tribal development programs (wadis) along with JLGs/ SHGs through EShakti (digitization)/artisans/Agri-preneurs/agri-start-ups.
As of October 1, 2020, around 3.02 lakh SHGs have been digitized and 2.81 lakh SHGs are credit-linked under Nabard’s EShakti project launched in 29 districts. This collaboration aims at SBI to act as an implementing agency for digitizing their SHGs and on-boarding on Nabard’s EShakti portal across Karnataka.
Niraj Kumar Verma, CGM, NABARD, has said that this will facilitate the availability of credit to the SHGs. Different branches of SBI in rural and semi-urban areas will attempt to finance 50 JLGs and SHGs annually. Grant support will be provided by NABARD for the promotion of JLGs and SBI would enter into a separate MoU with NABARD for promotion of JLGs with BC/BF support to come up financially stable.
To conduct financial literacy programs in the rural/semi-urban branches, NABARD is planning to enhance the support at the rate of 60 percent of ₹5,000 and also through Financial Literacy Centres (FLCs) of SBI. The MoU which aims at financial inclusion, SBI has been supported for procuring infrastructure support like VSAT, mobile signal boosters, and handheld projectors.
Previously in October, financing joint liability groups, Self-Help Groups-support credit inflows to Farmer Producers’ Organizations, and economic support for watershed development projects have been enhanced through an MoU. In addition to this, credit support will be given to the different sections of the society including the priority sector.
