The State Credit Seminar to unveil State Focus Paper 2025-26 for Goa was conducted by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), Regional Office, Panaji, at today, 16th December, 2024.
Subhash A. Shirodkar, Minister for Cooperation and Water Resources Department, Government of Goa, who was the chief guest of the event, released the State Focus Paper published by NABARD annually.
The minister acknowledged the contribution of the NABARD for the development of Goa in the areas of creation of critical infrastructure in the rural areas of the State, strengthening of cooperatives through computerization of Primary Agricultural Cooperative Societies (PACS). He further suggested adopting a holistic approach for rural development focusing on skill development of youths, dairy, fisheries, renewable energy, and MSME sectors.
At the event, the Minister also felicitated five PACS from the State for their excellent work in implementation of Central Sector Scheme on PACS Computerization.
The NABARD projected a credit potential of ₹ 12803.53 crore for the priority sectors in the State of Goa for the financial year 2025-26 at the State Credit Seminar. Of the total projected credit potential, as much as ₹2765.28 crore (22%) is towards agriculture and allied activities. A credit potential of ₹9,348 crore (73%) has been projected towards the MSME sector, while the credit potential for the remaining priority sectors has been projected at ₹690.25 crore (5%).
Vikas S. Naik Gaunekar, Additional Secretary, Finance Department, Government of Goa; Sandeep Dharkar, General Manager and Officer-in-Charge, NABARD, Goa Regional Office; Krishna Kumar S, DGM, RBI; and Carlos Rodrigues of State Level Bankers Committee; also participated in the seminar.
The State Focus Paper is a document prepared by aggregating the priority sector credit potentials assessed at the district level to form State Credit Potentials. As a credit planning document, it has been focusing on mapping the sector wise, activity wise overall potential for the absorption of credit and provide an overview of the agricultural economy of the districts.
The State Focus Paper is expected to act as an input for the credit and infrastructure planning by bankers and State Government to prioritise allocation of funds for development.
