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For Internal Use only (d) Eco Focus: A new series under which thematic notes on contemporary issues are brought out. So far department has brought out following 03 issues: i. Soaring Milk Prices: Issues and Conc...

For Internal Use only (d) Eco Focus: A new series under which thematic notes on contemporary issues are brought out. So far department has brought out following 03 issues: i. Soaring Milk Prices: Issues and Concerns ii. Volatility in TOP and Role of Agri Value Chain iii. Spiralling Tomato Prices: Issues and Concerns (e) During the year 2023-24, we have also provided inputs on questions/ clarifications/requirements received from the Parliament (including Parliamentary standing Committees), RBI and GoI. During the year 2023-24, more than 100 questions/queries/background notes were answered/background notes prepared for Parliamentary Standing Committees/Parliamentary Questions on areas related to agriculture and allied sector, agri-credit, farmers’ welfare, rural infrastructure, etc. 7. Research Support to Top Management and Other Departments During the year, analytical notes and speeches have been prepared for TMMT covering themes like: (i) Transformation of Agriculture Food Systems for achieving Sustainable Development Goals, (ii) Priority Sector Lending Certificates: An Assessment, (iii) Reimagining Indian Agriculture, (iv) Revitalizing Financial Ecosystem for Creating a New Economy, (v) Financial Inclusion: Status and Prospects, (vi) Growing Credit Markets in India, etc. A quick study on ‘Dominant share of Private Sector Banks and Small Finance Banks under JLG Financing’ was conducted in coordination with McID. Similarly, a quick study on ‘Improving Finance for Crop Cultivation and Agriculture through RCB’ was done through DEAR, Bihar RO based on the emergent requirement of DOS. We have constantly supported other departments of NABARD in undertaking evaluations (impact study on cluster offices, KCC scheme, SHGs/JLGs, MSMEs) refining policies and meet their compliances to observations of MC, Board/EC. EcoThink and EcoWatch: DEAR tracks the economy and publishes two bulletins - EcoWatch and EcoThink. They cover global and domestic economy including agriculture, inflation outlook, interest rate outlook, commodity review, and ReportThink that covers summary of one latest interesting report. The periodicity of these bulletins has been kept in line with the Investment Committee and ALCO meetings for which they serve as inputs. Performance of R&D Fund during 2022-23 and GLC Flow in India was presented before Board of NABARD. Research Chronicle: Second edition of ‘Research Chronicle’ has been published as a collection of articles based on completed R&D studies, summarizing the research findings and recommendations, thus providing a platform for knowledge dissemination. The second issue covering 06 articles was released during FY2023-24 8. Seminars/Webinars sponsored under the R&D Fund During 2023-24, a total of 117 seminars/webinars were sanctioned by DEAR and an amount of ₹2.41 crore was disbursed for organizing such seminars/webinars/conferences on different topics such as Strengthening of Value chain of millets, Sustainable Natural Resource Management under Global Climate Change, Innovations in Agriculture for Sustainable Food Systems and Farmers Income, Farm to Shelf: Enhancing Market Linkages, etc. 81  For Internal Use only 9. R&D Support for Publications During the year, reports, namely, (i) Sa-Dhan: Bharat Microfinance Report 2023, and (ii) EPW Research Foundation: EPW Special Issue of Review of Rural Affairs have been supported with an amount of ₹0.13 crore. 10. Maintaining Central Library The Central Library located at NABARD Head Office; Mumbai has been functioning under the aegis of DEAR. The library is stocked with 25,834 books, 21 Journals, 68 Magazines, 13 newspapers, and 9 digital magazines, journals & e-pape₹ During the year 2023-24, additional 26 books were added to the resource base. 82  For Internal Use only 12. Strategic Planning and Product Innovation Background In order to provide sustainable solutions to the agriculture and rural development related issues, there was a need to design and develop suite of credit and credit plus products and services for NABARD, its subsidiaries and banking sector at large, which will enhance NABARD’s visibility and engagement with stakeholde₹ Accordingly, Strategic Planning and Product Innovation Department (SPPID) was set up as a new department on 01 January 202 to bring in incremental innovation to its existing products and launch innovative products in tune with changing financial sector landscape, clientele needs and the emerging rural landscape, keeping in focus the mandate of NABARD. Since then, the scope of the department has been expanded to cover digital and technological interventions of NABARD in the Rural Financial Institutions by creating a Technological & Digital Intervention Cell. Achievements in FY 2023-24 CBS in Rural Cooperative Banks (RCBs): NABARD has played a pivotal role in integrating Rural Cooperative Banks (RCBs) with Core Banking Solutions (CBS), partnering with TCS and Wipro for project implementation via TCS BaNCS and Finacle Software since 2012, covering 133 and 81 banks respectively. The agreement by RCBs on TCS B@NCS platform has been renewed till 31 December 2027, while a new vendor has been identified for upgradation to Finacle 10.2.25. 1. Account Aggregator Platform for RCBs and RRBs: Furthering digital finance, NABARD initiated the proposal of setting up a common infrastructure and systems for onboarding of RCBs and RRBs on the Account Aggregator Framework, enhancing exchange of financial information. NABARD is awaiting approval of RBI for mainstreaming this architecture and facilitating on-boarding of the rural co-operative banks on this platform, which has potential for reducing costs in setting up FIP / FIU modules individually by banks. 2. Shared Aadhar Data Vault (ADV) for RCBs: To help onboarding of banks onto the eKYC and AePS platform, NABARD is facilitating discussions with UIDAI for a shared Aadhaar Data Vault (ADV) environment for Rural Cooperative Banks (RCBs), potentially reducing costs of dedicated infrastructure for the participating RFIs. 3. Digitalising Agri Value Chain Finance (AVCF): This initiative of NABARD would streamline financing and digitizing input purchase, crop production and output procurement, thereby linking institutions seamlessly with Agri Value Chains. Working in close collaboration with two start-ups, NABARD launched the AVCF pilot in 3 States covering 10 FPOs and 16 crops, involving credit support from two banks. 4. AVCF Digital Platform: NABARD has also co-created a digital platform with an agri fintech to facilitate on-boarding of input dealers, FPO members as also output aggregators onto the platform and facilitating online transactions among these participants, facilitated with bank credit. To address the challenges faced, NABARD is actively seeking solutions by exploring purpose bound loans using Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), alongside implementation of FPO Accelerator model. 83  For Internal Use only 5. Cyber Insurance for Cooperative Banks: Addressing cyber liability risks for RCBs, NABARD, as an eco-system developer, facilitated a collective Cyber Risk Insurance for 75 RCBs by floating a common Request-for-Proposal (RFP) on Central Public Procurement Portal (CPPP), achieving significantly lower premium and comprehensive higher coverage compared to individual policies independently procured by a few RCBs. The exercise of bringing 75 RCBs on a single platform for Cyber Insurance has benefitted these banks in terms of extremely lower premium at 0.62% of “limit of liability” for the maximum Liability coverage (against market trends of 0.75% to 1.25%) which would not have been possible otherwise. The policy now being offered to the RCBs is more comprehensive in coverage and on friendlier terms than what other individual banks had obtained in the past. 6. Development of Digital Technology for credit delivery, interest subvention, etc. i. eKCC Portal: NABARD has developed a Loan Origination System portal which initially shall provide KCC loans (and other types of loans later) and having integration with satellite imagery data, CIBIL and UIDAI for KYC authentication to facilitate underwriting of loans by banks. RBI has also given its approval to integrate the portal with its Public Tech Platform for Friction-less Credit (PTPFC) for accessing various data points related to land records, credit history, etc. ii. eNWR Pledge Loan Gateway: WDRA, with inputs from NABARD, has developed an eNWR Pledge Loan Gateway on the JanSamarth Portal of Department of Financial Services. This portal has been named as “e-Kisan Upaj Nidhi” and was launched on 04th March 2024. The portal is expected to ease the flow of pledge loans to farming community. NABARD would be disseminating the ‘Pledge Loan Scheme based on eNWRs’ through Seminars and awareness camps organised at state and district level. NABARD would also be writing to the RCBs and the RRBs for onboarding the Jansamarth portal and creation of their Pledge Loan products on the eNWR Module. iii. Developing an online tool for collection of SHG Data: NABARD with technical support from Online PSB Loans Ltd. (OPL) has developed an online portal to facilitate collection of SHG-wise data to extend them the benefit of government schemes. iv. Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF) Interest Subvention Portal: As requested by Dept. Of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (DA&FW), GoI, NABARD is developing a web portal for automating the processing of interest subvention claims as also credit guarantee fee claims of banks under AIF Scheme. This is expected to benefit banks in quick and error free settlement of quarterly interest subvention claims and encourage banks for financing infrastructure projects under AIF and also promote financial inclusion by encouraging beneficiaries to set up new units by availing the benefit of interest subvention and credit guarantee fee. The portal is presently undergoing UAT (User Acceptance Testing) before going live. v. NRLM Interest Subvention Portal: Working closely with MoRD, GoI, NABARD has developed a web portal for automation of submission and processing of NRLM Interest Subvention claims of RRBs and Cooperative Banks, in respect of WSHGs financed by them under DAY-NRLM. The portal was launched on 11 January 2024. The portal is live and claims of RRBs for the first quarter of FY 203-24 are being processed. The new portal would help RRBs and Cooperative Banks in reducing the Turnaround Time for claim settlement. 84  For Internal Use only vi. GGKA campaign monitoring: A nationwide campaign, Ghar Ghar KCC Abhiyaan (GGKA) was launched by DA&FW, GoI to target PMKISAN beneficiaries not yet covered by KCC, and in the process promote financial inclusion. NABARD was identified as Primary Executing Agency for monitoring the campaign which started from 01st October 2023 for a period of three months for the purpose of monitoring the camps conducted at ground level. NABARD had developed a web and mobile responsive application for monitoring the camps conducted. The portal went live from 01st October 2023 7. Technology Facilitation Fund (TFF): NABARD has formulated a policy for engagement with Tech-Startups for supporting development of digital technology related to Agriculture and Rural Development and set up a dedicated internal fund for the purpose. During the year, two proposals were sanctioned to Tech Startups amounting to ₹ 73.17 lakh under TFF, which includes a proposal of POC for Apple Supply chain traceability in the UT of J&K using Blockchain Technology. 8. Enterprise Architecture: NABARD has embarked on Enterprise Architecture (EA) journey with the vision to design scalable operating models, driven by Simplicity, Security, and Convenience with optimal utilization of ICT infrastructure and applications to offer a “Unified NABARD” experience to its clients, partners, suppliers and employees. The value proposition derived by the adoption of Enterprise Architecture in NABARD would be to provide integrated services through multiple channels, in a contactless, frictionless manner, enhance the efficiency of delivery of services and improve the effectiveness of implementation of services through a holistic performance management. An EA Board has been set up within NABARD to act as a governance body for the EA framework and NABARD is floating an RFP for procuring EA tool. 9. 5 year Strategic Plan – Pragati: NABARD adopted a Five-Year Strategic Plan, named 'Pragati 1.0,' starting on April 1, 2023. This plan is anchored on 7 broad visions, supported by 86 strategies, and aims to achieve 386 milestones, guiding NABARD's direction through to FY2028. The objective of the plan is to promote inclusive growth and sustainable development, strengthen the resilience of Rural Credit Institutions, and achieve meaningful business expansion. 'Pragati 1.0' reflects NABARD's commitment to embracing innovation and going beyond traditional annual planning. It is designed to be strategic, people-focused, technologically advanced, and solution- oriented. 10. UNNATI: To augment internal capabilities for effective implementation of ‘Pragati 1.0’ and better utilize the opportunities being provided by the ecosystem, NABARD onboarded the M/s Boston Consulting Group (India) Pvt. Ltd. as its Strategy Consultant from 03rd July 2023 for a period of one year. This repositioning exercise has been christened ‘Unveiling the New NABARD for Tomorrow’s India (UNNATI)’. As a part of this engagement, the following six initiatives have been prioritized: a. Renewed Model on State Finances: NABARD as the anchor champion of rural development will work closely with state governments to become the partner of choice to meet its capital outlay requirements in areas aligned to our mandate as well as co- create rural infrastructure development projects with States and State-owned corporations with a credit plus offering. Discussions have been initiated with identified State Governments in this regard. 85  For Internal Use only b. Climate Financing: NABARD during the year came out with a ‘Green Taxonomy’ which is now being incorporated in credit assessment and tagging green projects. India’s first sub-national climate finance facility was successfully launched on 20th February 2024 with NABARD as a key anchor for the program with an MoU signed with the Government of Goa and the World Bank. c. Partnership with Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs): NABARD is engaging with MDBs such as World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB), Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), GiZ, etc., for achieving climate-resilient high-quality, green agricultural and rural development. The collaborative efforts are centered around co-financing projects, supporting technical and operational aspects, knowledge partnerships, etc. The identified areas include green literacy, green taxonomy, Zero-carbon food system transformation through solar irrigation, regenerative agriculture and waste management, promoting innovative Agri-techs, supporting green infrastructure development, improving market infrastructure, promoting environment-friendly agricultural inputs and consumer demand-driven value chains. NABARD is in the process of signing of Letter of Intent with ADB shortly. d. Shared Services Entity: NABARD proposes to set up a Shared Services Entity for Co-operative Banks which will enable them to provide tech-led CBS+ services to their customers on par with scheduled commercial banks. Additionally, pooling all these offering within shared services entity will help provide the necessary scale in operations to ensure cost effective and efficient delivery of these solutions to the last mile. e. Purpose Bound Loans for Agriculture: To accelerate the dispensation of agri- credit especially among landless and tenant farmers, NABARD is closely associated with RBI, banks and other stakeholders to pilot a mechanism to deliver purpose bound loans using the Central Bank Digital Currency. The digital workflow for the pilot is being finalized. f. FPO Accelerator: To overcome the challenges encountered by the FPOs, NABARD is actively engaged in studying different FPO Accelerator models being implemented by various ecosystem develope₹ These models are designed to facilitate mentoring and capacity building for CEOs & Board members of FPOs, sensitise its farmer members and create successful and effective marketing linkages. NABARD is designing an accelerator model for FPOs which shall be launched for a select cohort of FPOs with strategic partnerships for on-ground implementation and support. 86  For Internal Use only 13. Data Management Analytics & Business Intelligence I. Achievements in FY 2023-24 1. NABDATA (NABARD Data Warehouse): NABARD launched its Data Warehouse project in the year 2022-23 aimed towards bringing data integration, data consistency & quality. The data warehouse aims to facilitate decision making by reducing errors and ensuring reliability in analysing trends, patterns, and historical performances. The warehousing project now named as NABDATA is progressing as per the expected timelines. The project is likely to be completed by October 2024. 2. ENSURE 2.0: A soft launch of the new application, ENSURE 2.0 with expanded scope including new requirements from various departments, better processing & analytical capabilities was done on 27 February 2024. There are close to 200 returns and reports under development in ENSURE 2.0. The new ENSURE promises to be user friendly with multiple API Integrations with other applications. The portal with all the modules is expected to be operationalised during the year 2024-25. 3. Account Aggregator (SAMIKSHA): To obtain consent based financial information from stakeholders, NABARD has joined the 'Account Aggregator' Ecosystem as a Financial Information User (FIU). In this ecosystem, consent based financial information flows from Financial Information Provider (FIP) to Financial Information User (FIU) through an Account Aggregator. The application developed for the purpose is named as Samiksha. This initiative provides an opportunity to different departments to obtain consent based financial information about their clients/ stakeholders and factor that information while taking decisions. 4. Collaboration with external agencies: NABARD has reached out to various agencies seeking collaboration under various initiatives and for sourcing relevant datasets for analytics. During the year, NABARD has entered into agreement/ MoUs with ICAR, ISB- BIPP, Microsave Consulting, Bhashini and UNDP. 5. Banking Correspondent Registry: The Sub-Committee of the Monitoring Committee on Functioning of BCs {DFS, MoF, GOI order no. FR 6/49/2022-FI (C-543259) dated 07.07.2022} advised NABARD to develop a comprehensive portal tracking BCs and their activities. The proposed BC Registry shall not only enhance transparency but also facilitate informed decision-making by providing actionable analytics and insights to stakeholde₹ The BC Registry would go live as and when the necessary approvals from RBI and/ or DFS are received. II. Roadmap for FY 2024-25 1. The Data Warehouse (NABDATA) with all dashboards/ AUCs to be rolled out. 2. Ensure 2.0 with complete data collection modules, report generation to be functional during the year. 3. Account Aggregator - further steps - i. Expanding scope of Accounts Aggregator services for coverage of NABSKIL (OFDD) portal for settlement. (ii) tracking settlement of claims in respect of vendors and agencies engaged by DPSP. 4. Collaborate with data rich organisations for sharing of relevant data with NABARD. 5. Contribution to AgriStack - NABARD has been identified by Gol to share the data on Scale of Finance for preparation of AgriStack Laye₹ 87  For Internal Use only 14. Corporate Communication Snapshot of performance – 2023-24 1. Increasing visibility of NABARD through digital and social media CCD launched the redesigned corporate website, which features better accessibility, multiple user-friendly matrices, and a refreshing colour scheme. Intensified NABARD’s social media positioning on Facebook, X (formerly known as Twitter), Instagram, and YouTube, through campaigns aligned with our mandate, well- crafted and topical content. Reached NABARD brand to over 10 million organic viewers from 1st April 2023 to 31st March 2024 through NABARD’s digital platforms as detailed under: Platform Viewership from 01 April 2023 Cumulative Viewership to 31 March 2024 Website 97,34,123 visits 6,56,31,278 visits YouTube 2,62,602 views 44,56,227 views Facebook 1,944 followers 33,704 followers Instagram (since 2,409 followers 2,409 followers Sep.2023) Total 1,00,01,078 7,01,23,618 NABARD’s digital performance/viewership grew by 17% in the reporting period over the previous year as given in the graph below. NABARD'S Digital Performance (Cumulative) 7,01,23,618 Viewership 6,01,22,540 2022-23 2023-24 Year Opened social media handles for comments and following. Opened NABARD’s Instagram account in September 2023. NABARD’s engagement on Facebook grew by 77%, impressions on X by 53% and Instagram had a total reach of one million in the reporting year. NABARD’s YouTube channel has gained a subscription of 56,600. 88  For Internal Use only 2. Thematic advertisements & strategic sponsorships A four-page supplement in Economic Times highlighting NABARD’s journey and latest developments was published and circulated across editions in 14 cities. A special feature on NABARD along with news stories was aired on ET NOW. A week-long campaign highlighting the importance of millets was executed in partnership with Radio Mirchi. Co-branded a millets conclave with The Hindu Group, which brought together specialists from across the country for deliberations. Supported WION's Mission Sustainability Conclave and as a part of the association, WION recorded NABARD's sustainability initiatives and success stories to air on the channel and digital platforms. Participated in BusinessLine's 2024 Agri & Commodity Summit. 3. Press releases & engagement with the media Several key Public Relations activities were taken up in the reporting period including the following: 18 media interviews for Chairman and top management in prominent media houses including BusinessLine, Business Standard, The Economic Times, Money control, CNBC TV18, Bloomberg Quint Prime among othe₹ 14 Relationship building meetings with journalists from prominent publications, electronic media and magazines 8 impactful media events 21 Press Releases 5 authored articles As a result, NABARD's news items got published 822 times. 4. Publications, calendars & diaries The calendar 2024 brought out some of the Geographical Indications supported by NABARD. The diary presented NABARD’s initiatives in Warli design and the desk calendar presented motivational quotes for office environment in a friendly, informal treatment. The calendar with GI products is QR coded, which is linked to NABARD website for more details. The corporate brochure, ‘Beyond Numbers’, brought out by CCD received much acclaim from all quarte₹ Brought out a publication around the Special Campaign 3.0 by GoI. Brought out two issues of NABARD Parivar. 5. Films A total of 35 films were made in the reporting year. An educational film on the pilot project for world’s largest grain storage plan in cooperative sector was conceived and produced for DOR in a record time of three days. Keeping tune with the social media consumption trends, CCD produced and uploaded 47 reels on social media in the reporting year. The cumulative score of films completed stood at 328 as on 31 March 2024. 89  For Internal Use only 6. Warehousing of publication In order to build on the organisational legacy and retrieve publications, a module for central warehousing of NABARD publication was rolled out by CCD in April 2023. With the help of the module, every publication is given a unique alphanumeric code. The module is Search Engine optimized as it captures metadata and enables searching of publications online using keywords. 7. Communication Code The ‘NABARD Code for Communication’ involving policies for both internal and external communications was developed and released on 30 November 2023. The code has three sub codes: i. Code for brand, Public Relations and advertisement ii. Code for publication iii. Code for social media. The code sets out guidelines on how NABARD should communicate with employees, partners, stakeholders and the outside world. 8. Media orientation trainings Two media orientation programmes for CGMs/OICs of HO Departments, ROs, TEs and Subsidiaries. A three-day media training programme was also organised for DDMs and Public Relations Officers of ROs. The programmes were handled by experienced resource persons from media industry. The programmes covered foundations of great media interaction, practical aspects of media engagement, writing press releases, networking and managing the media, among othe₹ 9. Projects on Google map NABARD’s projects have been put on Google map with metadata. The projects are hosted on NABARD’s corporate website. Besides the regular project information, the geotagged projects also present videos, images and Sustainable Development Goals met by the projects. 90