SAFAL – Odisha’s common credit portal

October 28, 2022

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik launched the common credit portal SAFAL to increase farmers’ access to loans.

What is SAFAL?

SAFAL (Simplified Application for Agricultural Loans) is India’s first online agricultural credit facilitation portal. This common credit portal eases access to over 300 term loan products provided for farmers and agri-entrepreneurs. These term loan products will be provided by more than 40 partner banks.

What are the benefits of the SAFAL portal?

The portal acts as a one-stop solution for farmers and agri-entrepreneurs to access loans offered by public and private sector banks, regional rural banks, state cooperative banks and small finance banks. It can simplify the loan application process, benefiting both the banks and farmers. It will minimise information asymmetry by sending real-time notification about the status of the loan to farmers at every stage of the loan application. It will also benefit the government by providing complete visibility of demand and disbursal of formal agricultural credit across states. This information will help create a data-backed government policies and schemes in the future. The portal will increase access to agricultural loans, which in turn will boost the farmers’ productivity and growth of agri-businesses. This portal has been integrated with Krushak Odisha. It has access to more than 70 model project reports.

What is Krushak Odisha portal?

Krushak Odisha is an authentic database of farmers in the state, including small, marginal, and landless cultivators and agricultural labourers. It provides information related to the farmers’ residence, land, crops cultivated, livestock reared, and fisheries practiced. This information has been verified by government extension workers. The database aims to reduce paperwork for farmers and ease access to government services and schemes. The integration of Krushak Odisha portal with SAFAL portal will ensure that the banks get authentic information about farmers who are applying for credit facilities.

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