NCDC To Extend Rs 735-crore Assistance To Cooperatives

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New Delhi, March 26: : The National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) will extend an assistance of Rs 735 crore to cooperatives in various sectors during the year 2003-04. The NCDC action plan was approved by its general council chaired by the Union agriculture minister Ajit Singh on Wednesday.

Addressing the council, Mr Singh said cooperatives had to be financially strengthened to enable them to face the challenges of liberalisation. He said the National Policy on Cooperatives and legislative initiatives of various states would ensure a level playing field for the cooperatives. u

He emphasised the uneed to increase value addition in agriculture from 7 per cent to 30 per cent and processing from 2 per cent to 10 per cent to ensure proper returns to the producer. The minister urged the NCDC to focus on efficiency upgradation and institutional development of cooperatives.

The minister of state for agriculture, Hukumdeo Narayan Yadav said that NCDC could now extend its operations to certain services like water conservation, irrigation, agro-insurance, rural sanitation, animal health and the like. It could now go for direct financing of cooperatives instead of routing through the state governments.

NCDC managing director Dinesh Roy said the non-performing assets of the corporation were at a low of 7.2 per cent.