What is NABARD? What Are Its Functions?

NABARD was established on the endorsement of the B. Sivaramman committee on 12 July 1982 to implement the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development Act 1981. It replaced the Agricultural Credit Department and Rural Planning and Credit Cell of Reserve Bank of India and Agriculture Refinance and Development Corporation.

NABARD: National Finance Institute

National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development [NABARD] is a peak development finance institution fully owned by India’s Government. The bank has been saddled with matters concerning policy, planning, and operations in the field of credit for agriculture and other executing Financial Inclusion.

Functions of NABARD

• NABARD is the most powerful institution in the country which looks after the development of cottage industry, small scale industry and village industry, and other rural sectors.

• NABARD also reached out to national economies and supports and promoted integrated development.

NABARD releases its duty by undertaking the following roles:

• Serves as an apex financing agency for the institutions providing investment and production credit for promoting the various development activities in rural areas

• Co-ordinates the rural financing activities of all institutions involved in expansion work at the ground level and maintains a connection with the Indian Government, state governments, Reserve Bank of India, and other national-level institutions concerned with policy formulation.

• Takes action towards institution building to improve the credit delivery system's absorptive capacity, including monitoring, formulation of rehabilitation schemes, restructuring credit institutions, training personnel, etc.

• Monitor and evaluate the projects refinanced by it.

• NABARD refinances the financial institutions that finance the rural sector.

• NABARD also keeps a check on its client institutes.

• It dispenses training facilities to the institutions working in the field of rural upliftment.

Does NABARD come under the RBI?

Reserve Bank of India is the country's central bank with all rights to regulate the banking industry and supervise the various institutions/banks that also include NABARD defined under the banking regulation act of 1949. RBI and NABARD do many developments and regulatory works in co-operation.

The Government of India owns NABARD, with its head office at Mumbai, has 31 regional offices located in the state and union territory, a compartment at Srinagar, 03 training establishments in the northern, eastern, and southern parts of India, and 418 district development managers functioning at the district level.