Agri credit will surpass Rs Rs 32L cr in FY26, says Nabard chairman

Chennai: With agriculture and rural growth catching up, the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) has projected that agri credit will surpass Rs 32 lakh crore in the current fiscal (FY26).

It is an increase by 14% when compared with more than Rs 28 lakh crore credit to the agriculture sector in FY25.“If you see any rural growth as percentage, it is catching up with the urban growth (in terms of percentage). Agriculture growth has also improved. It has moved away from the historical rates of growth to higher growth. Last year (FY25), agri credit was slightly higher than Rs 28 lakh crore. This financial year we will be crossing Rs 32 lakh crore,” Shaji K V, chairman, Nabard, told TOI in an interview.The focus areas will be productivity enhancement and agri value chain financing. Pointing out that productivity improvement is one area which needs to be focused to improve the per capita income of farmers, he said, “We are looking at value chain activities to be financed properly. Now, we are doing some pilots on agri value chain financing. Agri value chain financing is not just fund flow. We have to trace those funds to digitised means.

There is internal financing and external financing in value chain financing. When external financing comes in, the cash flow should be escrowed. And there shall not be any leakage. Otherwise, there will be a lot of stress. So, we need to digitise those pilots that we are doing,” he added.Meanwhile, Nabventures, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nabard, will soon launch the second round of Nabventures Fund with a focus on rural and climate resilience.

Early stage, Series A and Series B startups will be funded.According to Shaji, the fund is likely to be launched in a couple of months. “Internal and external approvals have been taken. We are in the advanced stage. Fund I was more of an agri focus and value chain. Climate resilience is one major area, which is coming in. So, innovations are required and we need to support these innovations,” he said.