Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) will provide an additional emergency working capital funding of Rs 30,000 crore to farmers.

This, she said, is over and above the Rs 90,000 crore provided by NABARD through the normal refinance route during this year. The finance minister said that the additional Rs 30,000 crore will be immediately released.

NABARD will offer this working capital fund to meet farmers’ crop loan requirements through rural cooperative banks and regional rural banks (RRBs)

This will benefit 30 million farmers, including the small and marginal. Under this scheme, Sitharaman said that front-loading facilities will be provided to 33 state cooperative banks, 351 district cooperative banks and 43 regional rural banks on the basis of their loans. “This will meet the post-harvest requirement (Rabi) and the current Kharif in May / June. This will directly reach rural India and marginal small farmers,” said the finance minister. Sitharaman pointed out the inadequate financial resources available to small and marginal farmers, adding that RRBs and rural cooperative banks are the main source of credit for this category. This scheme is part of the Atmanirbhar Bharat package announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 12