Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the General Budget 2024-25 in Parliament on July 23. A government official said that the budget may announce an increase in the target of agri loan by 25 percent to Rs 25 lakh crore. He said that this step is being taken after assessing the block-wise loan capacity.
Budget 2024-25: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the General Budget 2024-25 in Parliament on July 23. A government official said that the budget may announce an increase in the target of agri loan by 25 percent to Rs 25 lakh crore. He said that this step is being taken after assessing the block-wise loan capacity.
The official said on the condition of anonymity, “The target of agri loan for the current financial year is expected to be Rs 25 lakh crore. It depends on the Potential Linked Credit Plan (PLCP) done by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) at the block level. This credit plan has been assessed on the basis of how much credit capacity is needed block-wise.”
Let us tell you that PLCP is a detailed document describing the possibilities of rural economic activities from both physical and financial perspectives. At the same time, districts are divided into many parts for the purpose of rural and urban development, which are called blocks.
Earlier in the financial year 2024, the government had set the target of agri loan at Rs 20 lakh crore, which had crossed Rs 24.84 lakh crore.
“After identifying the agricultural activities of the area and taking into account schemes including one district-one crop, the target of loan capacity is decided. This process is done by NABARD and shared with the Finance Ministry. This indicates a possible target of Rs 25 lakh crore. However, the final decision will be taken by the Finance Ministry,” the official said.
The government launched the ‘One District, One Crop’ scheme as a strategy to promote the ‘One District One Product’ scheme. It aims to balance regional development by identifying and promoting the specialty products of the region. These selected products often include agricultural commodities. Examples include Lakadong turmeric from West Jaintia Hills in Meghalaya, different varieties of mango from different states and lavender products from Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir.
