, service area approach ( 1989 ), self - help group - bank linkage programme ( 1989 - 90 ), setting up of local area banks and of late, small finance banks and payment banks, all aimed at making available banking services to all. all these developments brought in a sea change in the flow of institutional credit to the rural population, including population dependant on agriculture. gradually the country moved towards a multiagency approach to meet the credit needs of the rural areas including farmers. 4. i am sure all distinguished panellists, international and local participants and the organisers have had fruitful discussions and deliberations during the last two days and have been able to draw upon actionable points for formulating strategies and the way forward. sustainable development goals 5. the sustainable development framework, adopted by the global community consists of 17 sdgs and 169 targets, to be achieved by 2030. while goal 2 of the sdgs includes targets on agricultural productivity and sustainability, yet agriculture is also critical to achieve many other sdgs relating to hunger, malnutrition, climate change, gender equality, natural resources protection and jobs. hence, to attain the sdgs of ending poverty and bringing in inclusive growth, policy measures related to agriculture need to be closely integrated with the sdg targets. further, the policies should focus on a combination of resource efficient methods, 1 / 5 bis central bankers'speeches dynamic cropping patterns, farming that is adaptive and responsive to climate change and intensive use of information & communication technology ( ict ). against this backdrop, let me dwell upon the indian agriculture sector and the existing institutional framework for providing credit to the farming community. a brief on indian agriculture 6. agriculture plays a significant role in the indian economy and provides employment and livelihood to a large section of the indian population. approximately 44 % ( as per ilo estimate of 2018 ) of the working population is employed in agriculture and allied sector1. however, the contribution of agriculture to gdp has been declining from 52 % in the 1950s to 30 % in the 1990s and further below 20 % from 2010 onwards as per data from ministry of statistics and programme implementation ( mospi ) 2. in 2018 - 19, the share of agriculture & allied gross value added ( gva ) in overall gva was 16 % ( ministry of agriculture and farmers ’ welfare ( moa & fw ) annual report 2018 - 19 ). economic survey 2018 - 19 suggests that the growth rate in gva ( at 2011 - 12

mahesh kumar jain : rural and agriculture finance - critical input to achieve inclusive and sustainable development speech by mr mahesh kumar jain, deputy governor of the reserve bank of india, at the 6th world congress on " rural and agricultural finance ", jointly hosted by asia - pacific rural and agricultural credit association ( apraca ), national bank for agriculture and rural development ( nabard ) and ministry of agriculture farmers welfare and cooperation, government of india, new delhi, 13 november 2019. * * * 1. mr senarath bandara, chairman, apraca ( asia pacific rural and agricultural credit association ), dr harsh kumar bhanwala, chairman national bank for agriculture and rural development ( nabard ) and vice - chairman, apraca, dr prasun kumar das, secretary general, apraca, all other dignitaries present here, ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon! 2. at the outset, i would like to thank apraca and nabard for inviting me to give the valedictory address to the participants visiting from different countries here at the 6th world congress. i would like to congratulate the organisers for having chosen the theme, i. e., ‘ rural and agriculture finance : critical input to achieve inclusive and sustainable development ’ with the aim of getting insights into the global best approaches to rural and agricultural finance. the topics of the business sessions are befitting the overarching objective of this forum for deliberating on policy priorities in developing sustainable and viable financial services to support and help in achieving the sustainable development goals ( sdgs ) of the united nations. needless to say, all the topics resonate strongly with the development agenda of the government and financial inclusion strategy of the reserve bank of india ( rbi ). we have been pursuing the goal of financial inclusion for a long time to ensure that access to formal finance becomes a greater enabler to achieve economic wellbeing of all sections of the economy. it is indeed a great pleasure for me to share my views on this subject. 3. the rbi ’ s financial inclusion efforts can be traced back to the 1960s when the focus was on channelizing of credit to the neglected sectors of the economy and weaker sections of the population. while the government of india nationalized banking operations of few commercial banks in two tranches in 1969 and 1980 ; rbi took initiatives like laying down priority sector lending requirements for banks, formulation of the lead bank scheme, establishment of regional rural banks ( rrbs - 1975 - 76 )