chairman

From Chairman

Promoting an entrepreneurial culture among the rural youth and encouraging them to start enterprises in the rural off-farm sector had been among the thrust areas in NABARD’s promotional initiatives over a period of more than three decades. Recognising the need for imparting necessary entrepreneurial skills to the rural youth, NABARD initiated capacity building measures in 1990 through the introduction of Rural Entrepreneurship Development Programmes (REDPs) and Skill Development Programmes (SDPs).

NABARD has also been supporting skill initiative programmes of Ministry of Rural Development, GoI by providing grant assistance to RUDSETIs and RSETIs. Cumulatively, NABARD has supported 34,878 REDPS/SDPs, with grant assistance of Rs. 154.37 crore, imparting training to around 9.04 lakh unemployed rural youth as on 31 March 2020.


In order to broad base our existing skill initiatives in tune with GoI, National and State Skill Development Missions, we have included NGOs, NSDC training Partners/Sector Skill Councils, Government Agencies and Corporates involved in providing training to rural youth as our Channel partners.

The NABSKILL portal is a new initiative by NABARD to capture the details of training related data viz., trainees profiles, training programme details, post-training settlement rate etc. Through this portal, Training Institutions can apply online for financial support from NABARD. Besides creating a database and helping us in closely monitor the various programmes, this initiative will also enable us to assess the ground level impact of the training imparted to rural youth and fine-tune our policies based on the same.

Recognising the need for imparting necessary entrepreneurial skills, NABARD has supported the training of more than 8.71 lakh unemployed rural youth through 33,812 REDPs/SDPs with grant assistance of more than Rs. 135.45 crore as on 31 March 2019.

G R Chintala

CHAIRMAN, NABARD