New Delhi: Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah on Monday suggested to the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) to set a target of achieving Rs 1 lakh crore yearly disbursement during the next three years, Ministry of Cooperation said in a statement.
Shah’s suggestion came while addressing the 89th general council meeting of the NCDC here in the national capital.
In his address, the Minister also desired that NCDC should explore avenues for borrowing at lower rates and lend to the cooperative sector keeping the interest rate low.
“NCDC’s objective must not only be to make a profit but to achieve overall development of the cooperative sector,” the statement quoted Shah as saying.
Noting that NCDC is playing a crucial role in fulfilling Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of ‘Sahakar se Samridhi, the Union Minister of Cooperation emphasised that NCDC should focus on promoting the three new national-level cooperative societies on exports, organic and seed production so that these societies grow in their business like many big brands in cooperative sector.
NCDC should also be the first contributor of equity in the proposed umbrella organisation of Urban Cooperative Bank, added the Minister.
Shah said that NCDC is implementing agency for various schemes of the government of India and dovetail the subsidy component with its loan to benefit cooperative societies.
He said that NCDC has disbursed financial assistance of more than Rs 41,000 crore in the Financial Year 2022-23 across the country including rural areas.
Minister of Cooperation said that NCDC is set to achieve 10 times growth in disbursement of financial assistance in the current financial year from Rs 5,300 crore in 2013-14.
With such an impressive performance, Shah said: “I am confident that the NCDC will be able to achieve the target of Rs 50,000 crore kept for 2023-2024.”
He added that it is a matter of pride that the net NPA of the Corporation is maintained at ‘Zero’ with loan recovery rate being over 99 per cent for 2022-23.
Amit Shah lauded the role of the NCDC in helping cooperative development in the country, he said that from agricultural marketing and inputs to processing, storage and cold chain the ambit of NCDC has widened to include areas in keeping with the needs of the society and boost the income of youth in the country.
He said there are more than 8 lakh cooperatives in the country with 29 crores farmers as their members.
Since its inception in 1963, Shah NCDC has provided cumulatively financial assistance of Rs 2,78,378 crore to cooperatives including agricultural and horticulture cooperative societies.
Shah said that recognizing the potential of the NCDC, it has been designated as a project implementing agency under the world’s largest food storage scheme in the cooperative sector.
NCDC is one of the implementing agencies promoting the Government of India’s ambitious schemes such as the Formation and Promotion of 10,000 Farmer’s Producer Organizations (FPOs) which provide for registration and support of new cooperatives as FPOs.
NCDC is also an implementing agency for the Formation and Promotion of Fish Farmer Producer Organisations (FFPOs) under the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana.
(With inputs from ANI)
