- a.Apex institution of rural sector
- b.Promoting integrated rural development
- c.Long-term credit to State Government for share capital of co-operative society
- d.Apex financial institution of industrial credit
Answer: (D) Apex financial institution of industrial credit
NABARD (National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development) was set up on 12 July 1982 on the recommendation of the B. Sivaraman Committee, taking over the agricultural credit functions of the RBI and the ARDC; its head office is in Mumbai. It is the apex institution for agricultural and rural credit: it refinances cooperative banks and Regional Rural Banks, lends to State governments (including long-term loans for share capital of cooperatives), runs the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund and pioneered the SHG-Bank Linkage Programme, so A, B and C are all its functions. Industrial credit (D) is not its field: IDBI (1964) was the apex body for industrial finance and SIDBI (1990, Lucknow) serves MSMEs. Also note EXIM Bank (1982) and the National Housing Bank (1988).