Agriculture and MSME are crucial sectors of the Indian economy. In the current pandemic situation, while agriculture has remained largely unaffected, the MSME sector has suffered, impacting output and employment. Acknowledging the role and contribution of MSMEs in our economy, policy makers have identified MSMEs as the critical lever for spurring growth. Development of the rural economy and social welfare of the rural population on a sustainable basis has also been a thrust area. To boost farm productivity and income of farmers, Government has made policy level changes such as those relating to contract farming and sale of farm produce. In this background, MSMEs in the Agro-industry based sector can potentially create employment and lift the lives of rural India. Besides, there is vast scope for innovations in agri-value chains, both existing and new.
Agro-MSMEs, which operate in the intersection of Agriculture and MSME sectors, can be powerful vehicles of growth in the post-pandemic environment. The CAFRAL Virtual Learning Program (VLP) seeks to build a business case for lending profitably to the Agro-MSMEs as they hold promise for the development of the rural economy in a sustainable and impactful manner. This VLP will deal with Agro-MSME financing broadly from three perspectives: objectives of financing, borrower categories and financed assets or targets.
The program will deal with the following topics:
Top and Senior Level Officers of Banks, Financial Institutions , NBFCs working in the areas of strategy setting, lending policy formulation, priority sector lending, MSME financing, agri-lending, agro MSME lending, sustainable finance etc.