Centre to set up Nabard Subsidiary for easy loans

Ranchi, Feb 17 (IANS) The central government is planning to set up a subsidiary of the central agricultural bank Nabard to facilitate easy loans for skilled rural people either for educational pursuits or entrepreneurship, a minister said here Tuesday.

"There is a problem of availing loans from public banks and the process of loan disbursement should be simplified," Union Minister for Rural Development, Drinking Water, Sanitation and Panchayat Chaudhary Birender Singh said here at a CII event.

The minister said after a person acquires skills under government initiatives like the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDUGKY), he may find it hard to arrange for finances, which limits the scope of implementation of such initiatives.

The rural skilling programme DDUGKY, launched by the Centre Sep 25 last year, aims to train a million rural youths aged 18-35 by 2017.

Singh said since the majority of the problems pertain to rural area, the subsidiary needs to be under the Nabard which will ensure effective monitoring.

"The central government is considering this proposal and may soon come up with the initiative to ease the loan process," the minister said.

Regarding skilling up of the country's rural workforce, the minister said besides the central and state governments, private enterprises should also come up with initiatives.

They should help people acquire skills by conducting programmes aimed to provide employment to the poor in the villages, he added.

"These star companies (enterprises) can hire them after completing the skilling programmes," he said.