Nabard: rural india’s all round assistance provider

The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) was set up in July, 1982 following after the recommendations of the "Committee to Review Arrangements for Institutional Credit for Agriculture and Rural Development". All major issues related to rural credit until then dealt with by the RBI and the Agricultural Refinance and Development Corporation moved under the control of NABARD. NABARD thus emerged as the apex institution to play a pivotal role in the sphere of policy planning and providing refinance facilities to rural financial institutions. NABARD also administers the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF), which was set up in 1995-96. NABARD has also been playing a catalytic role in micro-credit through the channel of Self-Help Groups (SHGs). The National Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development commonly known by the acronym NABARD is a leading development oriented bank in India, which has its headquarters in Mumbai, the country’s financial capital. With branches all across the country dedicated to improving the lot of the rural populace, the bank is expected to play a key role in ensuring development and implementation of the government’s financial inclusion policy. To that effect, this leading rural development bank has joined hands with the broader Alliance for Financial Inclusion. The vision of NABARD is to play a leading role in a range of matters that deal with policy, planning as well as operations that are related to the broad area of agriculture credit. Another key role of NABARD is to provide financial assistance to various areas apart from agriculture to spearhead the development of villages in India through financing of key economic activities.