Budget 2018: Larger institutional financing possible for animal husbandry

BUDGET 2018 - To boost agricultural incomes and push for modernised processing, the Union Budget 2018-19 could expand the institutional financing mechanism for the animal husbandry sector.

A key official said this could be done through creating dedicated funds in rural-centric banks such as the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard), and the money could then be channelled for expanding and modernising processing units and creating storage.

The dedicated funds are likely to focus on fisheries, poultry, and other animal products. This will also be for dairy and supplement what was announced in the previous Budget.

In the 2017-18 Budget, the government had announced a dedicated fund of Rs 80.04 billion in Nabard for the dairy sector called the Dairy Processing and Infrastructure Development Fund (DIDF). According to guidelines approved by the Union Cabinet, Nabard will give this amount as loan to the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) and National Dairy Development Cooperation (NCDC) at around 6 per cent interest per annum for further lending to eligible borrowers at 6.5 per cent interest per annum.
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