The State Projects Department (SPD) provides loans from the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) with the objective of supporting public sector capital investment in rural infrastructure through providing low cost fund support to State Govts. and State-Owned Corporations. Over the years, RIDF has become an important source of public capital formation in the rural infrastructure space.

I. Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF)

A major policy initiative for rural infrastructure development has been the setting up of RIDF in NABARD in 1995 for financing rural infrastructure projects. RIDF was set up to fund infrastructure projects in States, which are incomplete due to lack of financial resources. Due to inadequacy of critical infrastructure, banks were unable to channelise their lending to agriculture as per priority sector guidelines.

The Government of India, therefore, announced setting up of Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) in the budget of 1995-96, to be operationalised by NABARD towards financing of, at that time, the ongoing rural infrastructure projects in the irrigation sector. Subsequently, RIDF was made available for new rural infrastructure projects and its ambit was broad based to cover almost all important aspects of rural infrastructure.

Resources to RIDF are contributed out of the shortfall in lending to priority sectors by Commercial Banks as stipulated by RBI.

a. Core functions of the Department

The corpus of a particular Tranche of RIDF is decided by Government of India every year. Annual Corpus under RIDF is allocated among all States on the basis of prescribed norms comprising of

• Geographical Area of the State
• Inverse of Composite Infrastructure Development Index
• Share in National Rural Population and Rural poverty rate
• Inverse of Credit/Deposit Ratio and inverse of per capita PS credit
• Performance under RIDF (Average disbursements and utilisation of drawables)
• Average sanctions for Agriculture (including Irrigation) and Drinking Water projects

The amount of contribution by banks to a particular Tranche of RIDF is communicated by RBI based on the level of priority sector shortfall. The concerned banks are called upon by NABARD as and when funds are required for disbursement.

NABARD provides financial assistance to the State Governments for projects covering 39 activities broadly classified under three heads, i.e. Agriculture & Related Sector, Social Sector, and Rural Connectivity.

Eligible projects are prioritised and submitted by the State Governments through their Finance Departments/Nodal Departments to the respective Regional Offices (ROs) of NABARD. The projects are appraised by NABARD’s Regional Offices and forwarded to NABARD Head Office where they are placed before Sanctioning Committee of the Board or Internal Sanctioning Committee (ISC) for consideration for sanction.

Rural Infrastructure Promotion Fund (RIPF) has been created with an initial corpus of Rs 25 crore and operationalised from September 1, 2011 with an objective to promote capacity building among stakeholders as also for supporting innovative/experimental/promotional infrastructure especially in rural sectors. The activities/projects supported under RIPF are in the nature of experimental prototype projects, which are likely to have positive impact on promotion of sustainable infrastructure development in rural and agricultural sectors.

b. Broad achievements under RIDF

RIDF Tranche I was placed with NABARD during 1995-96 with an allocation of Rs 2,000 crore. The annual corpus has now reached to Rs , 40,000 crores under RIDF XXVII (2021-22).

Cumulative Sanctions & Disbursements as on March 31, 2022

From RIDF I to XXVII, NABARD has sanctioned total 7,45,882 projects involving loan assistance of Rs 4,36,629 crore to State Governments as on March 31, 2022 (including loans for warehousing projects).

Of this, an amount of Rs. 3,39,060 crore (78%) has already been disbursed. In addition, Rs 18,500 crore was sanctioned and disbursed for rural roads under Bharat Nirman. This translates to total sanctions of Rs 4,55,129 crore and total disbursements of Rs 3,57,560 crore (79%).

c. Sector-wise Share of Cumulative Sanctions

Sector-wise cumulative RIDF loans sanctioned as on March 31, 2022 (Rs. 4,36,629 crore), accounted for:

• Agriculture, irrigation and allied sectors (43%)
• Social sector (20%)
• Rural roads and bridges (37%)

The estimated cumulative economic and social benefits under RIDF as on 31 March 2022 were as under:

d. Benefits of RIDF Projects:

NABARD's support for creation of Rural Infrastructure through RIDF has resulted in considerable benefits such as:

• Commitment of funds under RIDF sanctioned projects has enabled State Governments to take up the implementation more expeditiously
• Financing incomplete projects has resulted in unlocking of investments already made by the State Governments, thus, realising the full benefits of the projects
• Creation of additional irrigation potential, generation of non-recurring employment and creation of jobs has contributed to the economic prosperity in the rural areas
• Monitoring of the projects has resulted in timely implementation of majority of the projects and has reduced the time and cost overrun Completion of projects through RIDF assistance from NABARD has helped in growth of core sectors in rural areas by spurring the demand for credit from Banks.

e. On-going projects and schemes:

State-wise, Tranche-wise details of closed/on-going projects/ schemes and broad sector-wise details are given in Annexure I and II.

• Annexure I
• Annexure II

II. Long Term Irrigation Fund

Long Term Irrigation Fund (LITF) was operationalised in NABARD during 2016-17 for fast tracking the completion of the 99 identified Medium and Major Irrigation projects, spread across 18 states. Subsequently, GoI approved the funding for Polavaram project in Andhra Pradesh, North Koel project in Bihar and Jharkhand, Relining of Sirhind and Rajasthan Feeders in Punjab and Shahpur Kandi Dam in Punjab within the ambit of LTIF.

Under LTIF funding arrangement, NABARD provided loans towards both Central Share and State Share from 2016-17 to 2020-21 with a tenor of 15 years. The Central Share was provided to National Water Development Agency (NWDA), an agency working under the aegis of Ministry of Jal Shakti , GoI, whereas the loan towards State Share was availed by the State Government.

With the approval of MoJS, GoI for continuation of implementation of PMKSY- AIBP and CADWM for the period 2021-26 for completion of 60 ongoing AIBP and 85 ongoing CADWM major/medium projects, (out of 99 identified projects), the funding for Central Share from 2021-22 is through the budgetary resources of DoWR, RD & GR, MoJS, GoI, while the funding of State Share to State Govts. is continued to be from NABARD under LTIF.

Loans towards State share are entirely funded through market borrowings / own pool of resources. The loans are extended to State Governments at minimum of 6% per annum and the difference between the cost of fund for NABARD and rate of interest to State Governments is compensated by the Government of India through Interest Subvention with ceiling of 2%.

Cumulative loan sanctioned and released as at the end of March 31, 2022 was Rs. 85,127.38 crore and Rs. 55,676.68 crore respectively. The details of State-wise sanction and release of funds as on March 31, 2022 are given as under :

As reported by MoJS, GoI, out of the 34.63 lakh hectare targeted to be created under LTIF, 22.74 lakh hectare of irrigation potential has been created during 2016-21. Further, 14.96 lakh hectare CCA has been developed under CAD&WM programme during 2016-21.

III. Pradhan Mantri Aawas Yojana - Grameen (PMAY-G)

Pradhan Mantri Aawas Yojana - Grameen (PMAY-G) aims at providing a pucca house with basic amenities to all households and those households living in kutcha and dilapidated house, by 2022. Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), Government of India (GoI) is the nodal Ministry for PMAY-G and the scheme is being implemented by the State Govts./UT. The scheme envisages construction of 2.95 crore houses.

NABARD has extended loans to National Rural Infrastructure Development Agency (NRIDA), a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) of GoI, towards part funding of Central share under the Scheme from 2017-18 to 2020-21. Loans towards funding under PMAY-G have been extended through Extra Budgetary Resources (EBRs) in the form of Government of India backed fully serviced bonds. The cumulative sanction and cumulative release by NABARD under the scheme stands at Rs. 61,975.00 crore and Rs. 48,819.03 crore respectively.

As reported by MoRD, GoI, as against the target of 2.95 crore houses.to be built in rural areas under PMAY-G, construction of 1.79 crore houses is completed as on 31 March 2022 (Source : MoRD Website – PMAYG).

IV. Swachh Bharat Mission-Gramin (SBM-G)

SBM-G was launched by Govt. of India with effect from October 2, 2014 with the goal to achieve universal sanitation coverage in rural areas by October 2, 2019.

NABARD has extended loans during 2018-19 and 2019-20 to National Centre for Drinking Water, Sanitation & Quality (NCDWS&Q), a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) of GoI, towards part funding of Central share under the Scheme. Loans towards funding under SBM-G were extended through Extra Budgetary Resources (EBRs) in the form of Government of India backed fully serviced bonds. The cumulative sanctions and disbursements by NABARD under the scheme stands at Rs. 15,000.00 crore and Rs. 12,298.20 crore, respectively.

The loan assistance from NABARD facilitated construction of 3.29 crore household toilets during 2018-19 and 2019-20.

V. Micro Irrigation Fund

Micro Irrigation Fund with a corpus of Rs. 5,000 crore was operationalised in NABARD from 2019-20. Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (MoA&FW), Government of India is the Nodal Ministry. The objective of the fund is to facilitate State Govts’ efforts in mobilising additional resources for expanding coverage under micro irrigation and incentivising its adoption beyond provisions of PMKSY-PDMC.

Under MIF, the State Governments are provided loans at 3% below the cost of funds; the 3% being compensated by the Govt. of India as interest subvention.

As on March 31, 2022 the cumulative sanction and release under MIF stands at Rs. 3,970.17 and Rs. 2083.72 crore, respectively. The projects sanctioned under MIF envisages to expand micro irrigation to an area of 12.83 lakh ha involving 10.20 lakh farmers, of which about 78% are SF/MF. As reported by the MoA&FW, GoI, against 12.83 lakh ha, an area of 4.23 lakh ha has been covered by the concerned States as on 31 March 2021.

State-wise cumulative loan sanctioned and released as on March 31, 2022 is appended:

As per the announcement made in the Union Budget 2021-22, the initial corpus of Rs. 5,000 crore under MIF has been augmented by another Rs. 5,000 crore.

Contact Information

Dr. Rajiv Siwach
Chief General Manager
8th Floor, 'D' Wing
C-24, 'G' Block
Bandra-Kurla Complex
Bandra (East), Mumbai 400 051
Tel: (91) 022-26530068, (91) 022-26539238

Information under RTI – Section 4(1)(b)