National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) has extended financial support to the tune of Rs 14,716 crore to Odisha during 2016-17, an achievement of a staggering 149 per cent of the target of Rs 9,868 assigned to it for last fiscal.

The total financial support to the state government, banks, corporations and other agencies such as non-governmental organisations and producers' organisations during the fiscal under review, was up 76 per cent over Rs 8,368 crore disbursed during 2015-16.

Odisha has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of Nabard's Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) under which loans are extended to the state government for critical rural infrastructure projects in sectors like irrigation, roads, bridges. The total loans disbursed to Odisha government during the fiscal stood at Rs 2406 crore.

The cumulative RIDF disbursements in Odisha at the end of March 2017 stood at Rs 12,324.71 crore.

"Under the long-term irrigation fund instituted by Government of India in Nabard, six incomplete major irrigation projects in the state like Lower Indra, Upper Indravati, Rukura, Anandpur barrage, Ret irrigation and Kanupur would be fast-tracked. An amount of Rs 1230.96 crore has been sanctioned for the purpose, out of which Rs 188.60 crore has been disbursed during the year", K C Panigrahi, chief general manager, Nabard (Odisha regional office) told media persons.

During 2016-17, refinance for short-term loans worth Rs 9,155 crore was disbursed to cooperative banks. It has been providing liquidity support by way of short-term refinance to cooperative banks and RRBs (regional rural banks) for meeting the credit needs of farmers for their agricultural operations at subsidised rates of interest. Similarly, to promote capital formation in agriculture, Nabard has disbursed long-term refinance of Rs 475.59 crore to commercial banks, Odisha State Cooperative Bank and one micro finance institution (MFI) during the year.

Nabard had disbursed an amount of Rs 2,124 crore to Odisha State Civil Supplies Corporation for its paddy procurement operations, during the year 2016-17 and extended another amount of Rs 300 crore to Odisha State Cooperative Bank, for on-lending to the corporation under its direct lending window.