The Hindu Business Line : KSCB gets Rs 527-cr credit from Nabard in three years

THE Regional Office of the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) has said that it sanctioned an aggregate short-term credit limit of Rs 526.90 crore to the Kerala State Cooperative Bank (KSCB) during the last three years in refinance money.

The apex cooperative bank had utilised only Rs 122.72 crore of the credit limit, which should have been exhausted fully by refinancing crops loans and working capital requirements of handloom/coir sectors at interest rates ranging from 5.25 per cent to 6.25 per cent, according to Mr T. V. N. Kurup, General Manager.

Clarifying that he was responding to a misinformed campaign suggesting that Nabard had not been playing its role in making available cheap credit in the State, Mr Kurup said an amount of Rs 103.56 crore was provided separately to the KSCB and Rs 793.93 crore to the Kerala State Cooperative Agriculture and Rural Development Bank (KSCARDB) in term lending at interest rates ranging from 5.5 per cent to 6.75 per cent. Regional rural banks (RRBs) also had been provided refinance (both short-term/long-term loans) aggregating to Rs 486.01 crore during 2002-04.

Nabard was also alleged to have not passed on to cooperative banks in the State the Rs 6,000 crore it received from RBI for making available cheap loans to farmers. According to Mr Kurup, Nabard did not receive any fund specifically for this purpose.

The General Line of Credit from the RBI amounting to Rs 6,500 crore during 2003-04 provided country-wide was fully extended to cooperative banks and RRBs. Nabard had in turn provided refinance of Rs 6,913 crore, involving its own funds in the process.

Nabard borrowed from RBI at six per cent, and had incurred net negative margin of 0.75 per cent by sanctioning limits to State's cooperatives at 5.25 per cent.

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