Hyderabad: A meeting of Regional Rural Banks (RRB)from several states was convened by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) yesterday to address issues on enhancing credit flows to the farm sector.

The chairperson of NABARD, Rajana Kumar, who addressed the participants stressed the need for bringing into the banking fold those farmers who have hitherto not covered by institutional credit.

She advised bankers to assess the realistic credit needs of farmers and make available timely and adequate credit. The meeting was convened in the wake of union government's directive on doubling the flow of agricultural credit in three years.

The meeting was attended by chairman of RRBs of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Orissa, and the senior officers of their respective sponsor banks and the RBI.
Following the meeting, the RRBs agreed to increase credit for agriculture by 40 per cent as desired by the Government and provide necessary relief to the distressed farmers.

Ranjana Kumar in a statement said that looking at the large network of RRB branches and their proximity to the rural people, it would not be difficult for them to achieve higher credit flow for agriculture. RRBs were advised to treat agricultural financing as a visible proportion and increase coverage under term loans. She felt that RRBs were lending below their potential and should at least achieve 15 to 20 per cent share of total agricultural credit.

The issue of scales of finance was also discussed and NABARD decided to take up proactive steps to make them farmer friendly. The need for government's intervention for extension services and marketing facilities was stressed by the bankers to make agriculture a profitable business. Nabard assured to provide support to bankers for training and preparation of bankable schemes of potential activities wherever required.