Bhubaneswar, October 26: India’s first online agricultural credit facilitation portal (SAFAL) Simplified Application for Agricultural Loans was launched by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday through virtual mode.
Launching the portal – http://safal.odisha.gov.in, the Chief Minister said that the application can revolutionise credit provisions for farmers and agri-entrepreneurs.
“The application is a one-stop-solution for farmers and agri-entrepreneurs to avail formal sector credit from Public and Private sector banks, Regional Rural Banks, State Cooperative Banks and Small Finance Banks,” said Patnaik.
With this facility, the Chief Minister said, farmers and agri entrepreneurs will have access to more than 300 term loan products being offered by 40 plus partner banks.
Besides, he added, it has been integrated with Krushak Odisha as well as the access to 70 plus model project reports.
“It will ease the loan application process benefiting both the farmers and banks significantly. The portal will also reduce information asymmetry by sending farmers real-time notifications at every stage of their loan application,” he assured.
Finance Minister Niranjan Pujari, Agriculture and Farmers’ Empowerment Minister Ranendra Pratap Swain, Chief Secretary Suresh Chandra Mohapatra, Agriculture Production Commissioner-cum-ACS Sanjeev Chopra, Agriculture and Farmers’ Empowerment Principal Secretary Dr Arabinda Kumar Padhee graced the occasion.
CEO of RBI Innovation Hub and CMD of UCO Bank also spoke on the occasion.
