Nabard give Rs 104 cr to Rajasthan SHGs

National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) has given loans to the tune of Rs 104 crore to self help groups (SHGs) in Rajasthan during 2006-07, taking the total to Rs 400.93 crore.

The bank covered additional 39,433 SHGs during last fiscal under the micro finance movement, taking the number of credit linked SHGs in the state to over 1,37,433, a Nabard official said here today.

Nabard proposed to facilitate bank linkage of additional 42,000 SHGs during the current fiscal with collaboration from NGOs, state government departments and banks, he added.

Last year, it sanctioned Rs 38 lakh as grant for various capacity building measures as also to promote the SHGs. To promote scientific development of agriculture , Nabard has been supporting the credit extension initiatives through farmers' clubs. During the year, Nabard supported 234 new farmers' clubs. There are 1,012 such clubs operating in the state.

The official said Nabard is currently implementing the District Rural Industries Project (DRIP) in Jhalawar, Ajmer, Jodhpur and Kota for creating sustainable employment opportunities in the rural non-farm sector.