• Investment World
• eWorld
• Brand Line
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest
• The New Manager

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Cross Currency

• Rates
  
  

Shipping

• Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources
• In Focus
• In Depth

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• The Hindu ePaper
• Business Line
• Business Line ePaper
• Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

Our Bureau

New Delhi, June 28 The World Bank has approved a blend of loan and concessional credit of $600 million to India for beefing up its rural cooperative credit structure to transform access to financial services for the country’s poorer farmers.

While $300 million would come as a loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) with 20 years maturity, including a five-year grace period, the remaining amount would be in the form of concessional credit from the International Development Assistance (IDA) with 35 years to maturity.

The Strengthening Rural Credit Cooperatives Project of the World Bank would support the Government’s existing programme to reform and revitalise the country’s rural credit cooperative banks (CCBs).

As many as 12 States have signed agreement with the Centre and the Nabard for the rural cooperative credit structure reform programme.

The 12 States that have signed the MoU with the Government and Nabard are Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and West Bengal.

“Better access to finance for India’s rural poor is absolutely critical for higher rural growth, for reducing inequality and ultimately alleviating poverty. By providing small farmers with improved financial services, such as credit, savings, remittance and insurance, this project will play a significant role in helping India’s rural poor benefit from growth opportunities,” Ms Isabel Guerrero, World Bank Country Director for India. CCB members would receive training in areas such as financial literacy and a strong project focus on monitoring and evaluation systems.

More Stories on : RBI & Other Central Banks | Rural Development | Co-operatives | Other States

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
RBI issues norms for banks to manage pension funds

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line