NCDC secures Rs 600 crore loan from Deutsche Bank

The National Cooperative Development Corporation, NCDC has secured Rs 600 crore loan from Deutsche Bank, Germany's largest bank, for onward lending to cooperatives in the country. An agreement in this regard was inked today between NCDC and the German Bank in presence of Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar in New Delhi.

The Minister also presided over the signing of an agreement between the Indian Chamber of Commerce and NCDC to boost farmers' linkages with markets.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Tomar said, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has given a new vision to India's agrarian landscape and also to the economic relations with Germany. He added that the Farmer Producer Organizations being set up in the country would be able to access easier credit and market through the NCDC agreements with ICC and Deutsche Bank and it will help small and marginal farmers.

This is for the first time that one of the largest European banks in the world is lending to the NCDC, thus reflecting the confidence of the global financial institution in the Indian development finance institution, particularly at a time when global economic turmoil created by the COVID-19 crisis has made lending a challenging proposition.