Effective and Hassle-Free Agriculture Credit with a Special Focus on Small and Marginal Farmers Target of Rs. 8.5 Lakh Crore of Agricultural Credit

The Finance Minister, Shri Arun Jaitley presenting the Union Budget 2015-16 here today, supported the agriculture sector with the help of effective and hassle-free agriculture credit, with a special focus on small and marginal farmers, Shri Jaitley proposed the Budget allocation of Rs. 25,000 crore in 2015-16 to the corpus of Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) set up in NABARD; Rs. 15,000 crore for Long Term Rural Credit Fund; Rs. 45,000 crore for Short Term Cooperative Rural Credit Refinance Fund; and Rs. 15,000 crore for Short Term RRB Refinance Fund.

Shri Jaitley said that "Farm credit underpins the efforts of our hard-working farmers, therefore an ambitious target of Rs. 8.5 lakh crore of credit during the year 2015-16 is set up, which the Minister was sure that the banks would surpass.