NABARD brings banks, government together to ease Kisan Credit Card access in Delhi
Nabin Kumar Roy, Chief General Manager, NABARD, emphasised that enhancing farmers access to Kisan Credit Cards remains a priority and called for coordinated efforts among government departments, banks, cooperatives and development institutions.
On Wednesday, NABARD's New Delhi Regional Office hosted a meeting titled "Stakeholders Meet: Issues and Challenges in Issuance of Kisan Credit Cards" to address challenges in expanding access to Kisan Credit Cards (KCCs) in Delhi. Senior officials from banks, the government, and financial institutions gathered to discuss the difficulties in increasing the availability of KCCs.
The attendees included D. Sahoo, General Manager and Convener of the State Level Bank Committee; S. Shanmuguvel, Director of the Animal Husbandry Department; Ubaid Khan, Deputy Director of the Agriculture Department; Tushar Jadhav, Deputy General Manager of the Reserve Bank of India; Ritu Singh, a Subject Matter Specialist from Kisan Vyapari Kendra Ujwa; along with officials from banks and the Government of NCT of Delhi. Representatives from RBI, LDMs, LDOs of RBI, and DDM-Rs from NABARD were also present.
Nabin Kumar Roy, Chief General Manager of NABARD, emphasized that expanding farmers' access to Kisan Credit Cards remains a top priority. He called for coordinated efforts among government departments, banks, cooperatives, and development institutions to tackle field-level bottlenecks through collaborative and innovative approaches, aiming for timely and affordable credit for eligible farmers.
The Animal Husbandry Department urged banks to extend credit facilities to cattle owners in Delhi, inviting banks to serve these areas. The Joint Director of the Agriculture Department reported that Delhi has approximately 20,000 landowners cultivating around 28,000 hectares of net sown area, with very limited KCC coverage.
Nabin Kumar Roy assured the participants that issues concerning KCC coverage would be discussed at the upcoming State Level Bank Committee meeting to ensure continuous attention and follow-up. During the discussions, several challenges in KCC issuance were identified, such as inadequate or unreliable gridawari records, unclear cultivation rights, fragmented landholdings, incomplete mutation processes, poor land demarcation, and oral lease arrangements.
The meeting also explored alternative credit delivery models for tenant farmers, oral lessees, sharecroppers, and farmers organized into Self-Help Groups (SHGs) and Joint Liability Groups (JLGs). Participants reviewed the extension of KCC provisions to animal husbandry and fisheries activities by the RBI, with implementation to begin in July 2026. The emphasis was on improving awareness and ensuring smoother execution through institutional mechanisms like documentation support and credit facilitation camps.
Written by urgent.news from The Economic Times - Economy's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.