Tamil Nadu Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu releases the State Focus Paper 2025-26, during the State credit seminar organised by NABARD in Chennai on Tuesday
| Photo Credit: S.R. Raghunathan
Despite recent natural disasters, Tamil Nadu continues to demonstrate strong resilience with a compounded annual growth rate of 11-12 percent over the past decade, Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu said in Chennai on Wednesday (February 5, 2025).
After releasing the State Focus Paper 2025-26 of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) at the State Credit Seminar, he said Tamil Nadu had allocated ₹29,730 crore to agriculture and allied sectors in the 2024-25 Budget.
“Agriculture remains vital to our country, yet challenges persist. The Tamil Nadu government has launched several initiatives to support agriculture and rural development,” he said.
NABARD has prepared a district-wise Potential Linked Credit Plans for 2025-26, aggregated and published as the State Focus Paper, he said.
NABARD has projected, for 2025-26, a priority sector credit potential of around ₹10 lakh crore, with ₹4,34,583 crore allocated for agriculture and allied activities, Mr. Thennarasu added.
Tribal development
N. Muruganandam, Chief Secretary, said, “For tribal development, we need separate exclusive credit flow because at present, the tribal development fund is miniscule. We have a significant population, around 10 lakh tribal persons in the State. We have done a comprehensive household survey of tribals and many of them are engaged in work related to agriculture or collection of minor forest produce,” he added.
R. Anand, Chief General Manager, NABARD, said credit planning was significant for faster-growing economy like Tamil Nadu. This will facilitate financial resources to the most productive sectors, mitigate risks of inflation and financial instability, and direct funds to the priority sectors such as agriculture, MSME, and infrastructure, he added.
Ajay Kumar Shrivastava, managing director and CEO, Indian Overseas Bank; Shiv Bajrang Singh, executive director, Indian Bank; and Uma Sankar, regional director, Reserve Bank of India were among those who spoke at the event. T. Udhayachandran, Finance Secretary, and J. Radhakrishnan, Additional Chief Secretary to the Government, Department of Co-operation, Food, and Consumer Protection were also present on the occasion.
Published – February 05, 2025 04:29 pm IST