National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development Promise and Performance, 1982-83 to 1995-96

This paper reviews the performance of NABARD from 1982-83, the year of its birth, through 1995-96 in relation to its mandate and the expectations about the institution in the mind of the Committee to Review Arrangements for Institutional Credit for Agricultural and Rural Development (CRAFICARD), *the Committee that spawned NABARD. Since it was created to function as the apex institution for rural credit by hiving off the respective functions and funds of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the paper seeks to identify if NABARD has done anything new that RBI and the Agricultural Refinance and Development Corporation (ARDC), a subsidiary of RBI, did not do earlier. The review covers both credit and non-credit (developmental)functions. The changes in the policies on rural credit since 1967, including the recent Financial Sector Reforms, have also been discussed in so far as they are relevant for the theme. The paper concludes with a speculation on NABARD's future in u completely competitive rural financial market which is likely to emerge as a logical consequence of the ongoing economic reforms in India.