Agri-NBFCs want inclusion in govt subsidy schemes

Top Stories

»	US deal to play pivotal role in India achieving $100 billion textiles exports in 2030
»	EU, US trade deals to support exports over medium-term: RBI Governor
»	Ensuring energy security of 1.4 billion Indians remains govt's supreme priority: MEA
»	After Budget and India-US trade deal, all eyes on RBI’s repo rate decision
»	US tariffs on Indian goods among lowest after trade deal

SME Times News Bureau | 26 Jan, 2021
In a bid to strengthen Agri-NBFCs and help it become a significant contributor in financing the entire value chain of agriculture, the government may consider including these financial institutions in all state supported subsidy schemes and programmes.

The Agri sector NBFCs have made a strong case for including them in various subsidy schemes and programmes of the government, a benefit hitherto available only to the Banks.

This is a demand that would be given due consideration while framing financing regulations for the agricultural sector, official sources said.

"This (inclusion of Agri NBFCs in government programmes) will bring about certainty and predictability in the business of rural lending and make the system transparent in terms of policy implementation. Additionally, customer benefits will also significantly increase," said Prabhat Chaturvedi, CEO, Netafim Agricultural Financing Agency (NAFA).

The government statistics suggest that more than 85 per cent of the farmers are small & marginal with less than 2 hectare of land and have less than 30 per cent access to formal credit.

To ease the access of credit and support the government's ambition of financial inclusion, Agri-NBFCs have played an important role by offering access to financing at attractive and competitive commercial terms for farming equipment and machinery. However, these NBFCs have traditionally been excluded from the purview of government subsidy schemes.