A National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) report on Thursday revealed that Gujarat's credit potential for priority sectors stands at Rs 3.53 lakh crore.
A NABARD release said its annual document 'State Focus Paper 2024-25' was unveiled by Gujarat Chief Secretary Raj Kumar at an event held here in the presence of senior officials, bankers, heads of NGOs and stakeholders.
NABARD is an apex regulatory body for overall regulation of regional rural banks and apex cooperative banks in India.
"NABARD's meticulous analysis highlighted a credit potential of Rs 3.53 lakh crore for Gujarat, including Rs 1.42 lakh crore, which comes to 40%, for agriculture and allied sectors, Rs 1.80 lakh crore (51%) for the MSME sector, and the remaining 9 per cent for other priority sectors," said the release.
The document not only outlines the existing credit-absorption capacity but also proposes strategies to enhance it through strategic partnerships and policy interventions, the NABARD release added.
Speaking on the occasion, Kumar exhorted bankers to view farmers as small business enterprises and to augment credit supply to the state's farmers by reposing greater faith in their enterprising skills.
He reiterated the state government's support to NABARD and also called for greater convergence of the bank's developmental interventions with the government's schemes for capacity building of farmers to augment their market scope not just in India but also abroad, the release said.
AK Rakesh, Additional Chief Secretary, state Agriculture, Farmers Welfare and Co-Operation department, urged bankers to strive towards achieving this credit potential of Rs 3.53 lakh crore for financial year 2024-25.
While calling for greater convergence between NABARD, state government and bankers, NABARD Chief General Manager (Gujarat RO) BK Singhal asked bankers to focus on agricultural credit disparities and address them.
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