National rural banking refinancer has estimated priority sector rural credit of Rs1,28,307 crore in Gujarat for the fiscal 2018-19, indicating a rise of over 10% over the current fiscal. The estimates for agriculture sector are estimated at Rs77,474.62 crore indicating a rise of 7.6% over the current fiscal.

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National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) on Monday released its credit estimates for the fiscal 2018-19 during a State Credit Seminar held in Gandhinagar. According to a statement by NABARD, of the Rs1,28,307 crore of estimated credit plan for the priority sector, of which Rs77,474.62 crore is for agriculture, Rs36,151.05 crore for Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and the rest of Rs14,681.77 crore for other sectors.

The estimates have come at a time when Gujarat is facing a severe agrarian crisis, with farmers complaining that they are not getting remunerative prices for the crops. Anger is simmering in villages as farmers are told not to sow summer crops in the current year. NABARD has been mapping the flow of bank credit towards priority sector in all the districts of the state through its annual Potential Linked Credit Plans (PLPs), which forms the basis of Annual Credit Plan for each district by Lead Bank.

These are aggregated to form the State Focus Paper which is a reflection of the estimated credit flow into the district during the year. Recently, NABARD had also set up Dairy Processing and Infrastructure Development Fund (DIDF) worth Rs8,004 crore to give a stimulus to the dairy sector in the state.