The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) in West Bengal saw a 43 per cent growth in loans to the State Government and financial institutions in 2010-11 over 2009-10.

NABARD also increased its lending to the central cooperative banks (CCBs) and regional rural banks (RRBs), operating in the State, by 58 per cent to Rs 855.09 crore.

Mr N.S.P. Rao, Chief General Manager of NABARD in West Bengal told reporters here on Tuesday that considering that 95 per cent of the farmers in the State are small and marginal, the re-financier enhanced its coverage.

NABARD sanctioned 78 new schemes for funding rural go-downs in the State. These will create an additional storage capacity of 83,375 tonnes. According to Mr Rao, NABARD has taken up around 22 animal husbandry projects.

In a pilot project in the farm sector, NABARD provided 175 mobile phone-based services to Farmers' Clubs through Reuters Marketing Link. Mr Rao indicated this would be scaled up this fiscal.

In 2010-11, NABARD's disbursement to the State Government under Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) increased by 26 per cent to Rs 1,160 crore. In 2009-10, RIDF loans disbursed were Rs 922 crore. The projects taken up last year included improvement of rural connectivity, creating additional irrigational facilities and flood protection structures.

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