On December 23, 2019 the department of fisheries of govt. of India, NABARD (National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development) and the govt. of Tamil Nadu(TN) has signed the 1st tripartite Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) for implementation of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development Fund (FIDF). The total outlay of the fund is Rs.7522.48 crores. The FIDF will provide finance to the eligible entities, cooperatives, individuals and entrepreneurs for development of identified fisheries infrastructure.
Fisheries and Aquaculture Development Fund (FIDF):
i.420 crore approval by govt: Initial concessional finance of Rs 420 crore from NABARD will be availed by the TN govt. under the 1st tripartite agreement. Under this initial concession, 3 fishing harbours will be developed in TN. They include Tharangampadi (Tranquebar) in Nagapattinam District, Thiruvottriyur Kuppam in Thiruvallur District and Mudhunagar in Cuddalore District.
- These fishing harbours will augment fish production, create employment opportunities etc.
ii.Nodal Loaning entities: The concessional finance under the (FIDF) will be provided by NABARD, National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) and all scheduled banks. These act as the Nodal Loaning entities (NLEs).
iii.Interest subvention: The Department of Fisheries, Ministry of fisheries, animal husbandry and dairying under the FIDF will provide interest subvention up to 3% per annum for the concessional finance by the NLEs. The interest rate will not be lower than 5% per annum.
- Interest subvention meaning: It simply means a subsidy offered on interest rates. The subsidy helps the loan borrower in not having to pay the total interest amount on a loan amount.
iv.NABARD provides concessional finance through State govts/State entities under the FIDF. Proposals to the tune of Rs.1715.04 crore received from various State govts. and other Eligible Entities (EEs) have been recommended by the Central Approval and Monitoring Committee.
- The project proposals of Govt. of TN and Andhra Pradesh(AP) for development of fishing harbours in their respective States form the major part of these recommended projects.
v.Members present: Shri Giriraj Singh, Union Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying; Smt Rajni Sekhri Sibal, Secretary of Department; Dr. Harsh Kumar Bhanwala, Chairman of NABARD; Dr. J Balaji, Joint Secretary (Fisheries); Shri Sagar Mehra, Joint Secretary (Fisheries) and other senior officials were present in the event.
About Ministry for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying:
Formation- May 2019.
Union Minister- Shri Giriraj Singh.
Minister of State(MoS)- Shri Pratap Chandra Sarangi.
Secretary- Shri Atul Chaturvedi.
