GANGTOK: National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), Sikkim, organised State Credit Seminar 2025-26 for the state of Sikkim in Gangtok today.
Ravindra Telang, Chief Secretary, Government of Sikkim graced the occasion as chief guest.
Ajay Kumar Sinha, General Manager and OIC, NABARD Sikkim welcomed the guests and highlighted the objectives of the seminar. He mentioned about the unique and vibrant economy of the state which is shaped by its natural resources, cultural heritage and sustainable agricultural practices. He stressed upon the importance of collaboration and coordination among the stakeholder for achieving the development objectives of the state as well as the goal of Viksit Bharat by 2047.
Sinha apprised the house regarding issues being faced by small and marginal farmers such as lower productivity, lack of value addition and lack of adequate marketing facilities. He emphasized upon the need for development based on ‘cooperative model’ as also FPOs for the small and marginal farmers. He elucidated various initiatives undertaken by the Ministry of Cooperation, GoI and NABARD for the holistic growth of the PACS under the vision of Sahakar Se Samriddhi. He also highlighted various interventions undertaken by NABARD in recent years in areas such as tribal development, Spring-shed based watershed development, financial inclusion, formation and promotion of community-based organizations, credit support for infrastructure etc.
Anil Kumar Yadav, DGM made a presentation on credit projections under State Focus Paper 2025-26.
Ravindra Telang, Chief Secretary, Government of Sikkim released the ‘State Focus Paper: 2025-26’ prepared by NABARD on the occasion of ‘State Credit Seminar’.
The document estimated a credit potential of Rs.1474.81 crore for credit flow to the priority sector in the state for the year 2025-26. The document also estimated a potential of Rs. 521.06 crore towards agriculture loans covering farm credit, agri infrastructure and agri ancillary activities.
Telang appreciated NABARD’s contribution to the state through a diverse range of developmental interventions and in reaching out of the far-flung areas and the unreached. He also congratulated Team NABARD Sikkim for bringing out the State Focus Paper 2025-26 and organizing the State Credit Seminar.
Sikkim being one of the smallest states of the country, he highlighted specific issues such as lack of surplus production, lower number of enterprising farmers, migration from rural to urban areas, lack of sustained supply of raw materials except milk and urged all the concerned stakeholders to take concerted actions to address the issues. He stressed upon the region-specific mapping of the products and advised the banks to create adequate awareness about credit discipline. He emphasized the need of collaboration and coordination among all the stakeholders to increase the credit absorption capacity of the state.
During the course of the event, a video highlighting various interventions of NABARD across the state was displayed. Continuing its tradition of ceremonial handing over of letters of new sanctions and releases under ongoing projects, NABARD Sikkim RO handed over grants sanction totalling an amount of Rs.57.88 lakh and releases amounting to Rs. 51.90 lakh to bankers/SRLM/project partners including FPO.
Jigme Dorjee Bhutia, Secretary, Agriculture department, GoS appreciated the role of NABARD in various areas such as rural development, SHG development, financial inclusion, strengthening of cooperatives, etc. Other dignitaries viz Thotngam Jamang, Regional Director, Reserve Bank of India, Sikkim expressed his views in the Seminar and highlighted the importance of NABARD’s State Focus Paper in fixing the priority sector credit target for bankers of the state.
- PIB Report
