National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD)

National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) is an apex development bank in India, headquartered at Mumbai.
NABARD was established on the recommendations of B.Shivaraman Committee, on 12 July 1982 to implement the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development Act 1981.
It replaced the Agricultural Credit Department (ACD) and Rural Planning and Credit Cell (RPCC) of Reserve Bank of India, and Agricultural Refinance and Development Corporation (ARDC).
It is one of the premier agencies providing developmental credit in rural areas.
NABARD is India’s specialised bank for Agriculture and Rural Development in India.
National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) was established to promote sustainable and equitable agriculture and rural prosperity through effective credit support, related services, institutional development and other innovative initiatives.
The initial corpus of NABARD was Rs.100 crores.

Functions of NABARD-

Refinance support to Rural Financial Institutions (RFIs), mainly to Cooperative Banks and Regional Rural Banks, for Seasonal Agricultural Operations, handloom weavers, marketing operations, etc
Refinance support to Rural Financial Institutions for increasing flow of long term credit to create assets and capital formation in agriculture and allied sector
Direct refinance assistance to Cooperative Banks for providing short term multipurpose credit
Credit facility to Marketing Federations, Corporations and Cooperatives
Loans to State Governments for creating rural infrastructure from Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF)
Loans for creation of warehousing infrastructure to State Governments, State and Central Government owned entities, Cooperatives and Federation of Cooperatives, Corporates/ Companies, individual entrepreneurs, etc., from Warehousing Infrastructure Fund (WIF)
Direct lending to state owned institutions /corporations, Cooperatives, Producers’ Organizations, etc., under NABARD Infrastructure Development Assistance (NIDA).

Developmental Initiatives:

NABARD Supports and Facilitates:

Credit Planning, Monitoring and Coordination along with various stakeholders in increasing the ground level credit flow and capital formation in agriculture sector
Policy formulation by GoI, RBI, State Governments on agriculture credit, rural development, institution development and related matters
Research and studies, techno-economic and other surveys, training, dissemination of information in agriculture and rural development and rural banking
Financial Inclusion for inclusive growth
Self-Help Group Bank Linkage Programme
Promotion of Women SHGs in backward/left wing extremism affected districts
Formation of Joint Liability Groups of marginal and tenant farmers
Promotion of livelihood opportunities and micro enterprises
RFIs to issue Rupay Kissan Credit Cards
Farmers’ Club programme
Watershed Development Programme
Integrated Tribal Development Programme
Producers’ Organizations
Pilots to mitigate the adverse impact of climate change in agriculture sector and promoting initiatives in an ecologically sustainable manner
Productivity augmentation and technology transfer
Creating livelihood avenues through skills development in off-farm sector.