GANGTOK, (PIB): National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD)
Sikkim on Tuesday organised State Credit Seminar 2025-26 for the State of
Sikkim in Gangtok on Tuesday.
Ravindra
Telang, chief secretary, Government of Sikkim graced the occasion as chief guest.
The
event was attended by Ajay Kumar Sinha, GM and OiC, NABARD Sikkim; Thotngam
Jamang, regional director, RBI Sikkim; MCP Pradhan, controller of Accounts and secretary,
Finance & Revenue department, GoS; Jigme Dorjee Bhutia, secretary,
Agriculture department, GoS; Norzing Tshering Shenga, secretary, Rural
Development department, GoS; Gloria Namchu, secretary, Cooperation department,
GoS; AB Subba, secretary, Roads and Bridges department, GoS; Tilak Gajmer, secretary,
Horticulture department, GoS; other senior officers from line departments, Alok
Jain, DGM, SBI, LHO, Kolkata; senior academicians from Sikkim University and
GBP NIHE, senior officials from Spices Board, State Level Bankers Committee, bankers,
SRLM, NABARD’s project implementing partner agencies and beneficiaries from FPO
&tribal and spring-shed development projects.
Ajay
Kumar Sinha, general manager and OIC, NABARD Sikkim welcomed the guests and
highlighted the objectives of the seminar. He mentioned about the unique and
vibrant economy of the State which is shaped by its natural resources, cultural
heritage and sustainable agricultural practices. He stressed upon the
importance of collaboration and coordination among the stakeholder for
achieving the development objectives of the State as well as the goal of Viksit
Bharat by 2047.
He
apprised the house regarding issues being faced by small and marginal farmers
such as lower productivity, lack of value addition and lack of adequate
marketing facilities. He emphasized upon the need for development based on
‘cooperative model’ as also FPOs for the small and marginal farmers. He
elucidated various initiatives undertaken by the Ministry of Cooperation, GoI
and NABARD for the holistic growth of the PACS under the vision of ‘Sahakar Se
Samriddhi’. He also highlighted various interventions undertaken by NABARD in
recent years in areas such as tribal development, spring-shed based watershed
development, financial inclusion, formation and promotion of community-based
organizations, credit support for infrastructure etc.
DGM
Anil Kumar Yadav made a presentation on credit projections under State Focus
Paper 2025-26.
Chief
secretary Ravindra Telang released the ‘State Focus Paper: 2025-26’ prepared by
NABARD on the occasion of ‘State Credit Seminar’.
The
document estimated a credit potential of Rs.1474.81 crore for credit flow to
the priority sector in the State for the year 2025-26. The document also
estimated a potential of Rs. 521.06 crore towards agriculture loans covering
farm credit, agri infrastructure and agri ancillary activities.
Telang
appreciated NABARD’s contribution to the State through a diverse range of
developmental interventions and in reaching out of the far-flung areas and the
unreached. He also congratulated Team NABARD Sikkim for bringing out the State
Focus Paper 2025-26 and organizing the State Credit Seminar.
Sikkim
being one of the smallest States of the country, he highlighted specific issues
such as lack of surplus production, lower number of enterprising farmers,
migration from rural to urban areas, lack of sustained supply of raw materials
except milk and urged all the concerned stakeholders to take concerted actions
to address the issues. He stressed upon the region-specific mapping of the
products and advised the banks to create adequate awareness about credit
discipline. He emphasized the need of collaboration and coordination among all
the stakeholders to increase the credit absorption capacity of the State.
During
the course of the event, a video highlighting various interventions of NABARD
across the State was displayed.
Continuing
its tradition of ceremonial handing over of letters of new sanctions and
releases under ongoing projects, the NABARD Sikkim RO handed over grants
sanction totalling an amount of Rs.57.88 lakh and releases amounting to Rs.
51.90 lakh to bankers/SRLM/project partners including FPO. A few beneficiaries
of NABARD’s developmental projects viz. FPOs, springshed development, TDF
projects coming from various districts of State narrated their experiences of
benefits received out of such grant assistance-based projects.
In
the seminar, a small exhibition of FPO and SHGs demonstrating the products
produced aggregated by them and supported by NABARD was also conducted.
Jigme
Dorjee Bhutia, secretary, Agriculture department, appreciated the role of
NABARD in various areas such as rural development, SHG development, financial
inclusion, strengthening of cooperatives, etc.
Other
dignitaries viz Thotngam Jamang, regional director, Reserve Bank of India,
Sikkim expressed his views in the Seminar and highlighted the importance of
NABARD’s State Focus Paper in fixing the priority sector credit target for
bankers of the State.
