Nabard pumps Rs 1,008 cr into agri credit co-ops

The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) has released Rs 1,008 crore of the Centre’s share of recapitalisation assistance to 3,200 primary agriculture credit societies (PACS) in the state based on the promise of Tamil Nadu to introduce cooperative reforms as suggested by the Vaidyanathan Committee, according to a senior official of Nabard.

R Narayan, chief general manager — Tamil Nadu Regional Office, Nabard said that of the 4,500 PACS, 3,000 have got funding. The released amount was 75 per cent of the commitment by the Centre. The remaining 25 per cent or Rs 250-300 crore will be released once the elected representatives for these societies take over the board and once a professional CEO gets appointed.

He added that the government of Tamil Nadu has released Rs 230 crore as part of its sanction for recapitalisation assistance.

The recapitalisation will help these PACS clean up their balance sheets and increase their capital adequacy ratio to 7 per cent. “Presently, we are in the process of assessing the real loss of these PACs through a special audit,” said Narayan.

He added, this audit would help assess how much more fund would be required.

Commenting on the regional office’s performance, he said, the state has been sanctioned Rs 850 crore under RIDF in 2009-10. The disbursements stood at Rs 1,015.9 crore as against Rs 846 crore last fiscal.

The benefits under RIDF include improvements to 1,257 rural roads for a length of 2,700 kms and construction of 99 bridges, building classrooms, toilet blocks, drinking water facilities and others across the state.

The cumulative disbursement of refinance during the year of all agencies in Tamil Nadu stood at Rs 852 crore as against Rs 858.54 crore for capital formation in agriculture. Under the concessional refinance provided for seasonal agricultural operations (crop loans), cooperatives had availed Rs 712 crore as against Rs 663.35 crore last year.