By A Staff Reporter
Kathmandu, Jan.22: Finance Minister (FM) Janardan Sharma urged the Agricultural Development Bank Limited (ADBL) to increase its investment in the agricultural sector.
Inaugurating the 55th anniversary of the bank virtually on Friday, FM Sharma said that credit should be disbursed giving priority to the agriculture sector without being deviated from the main objective set at its establishment.

"The banking business should give priority to the public welfare and productive works. Banks should play a role in increasing investment in agriculture and making people self-employed by increasing investment in agriculture sector," he said.
On the occasion, Governor of the Nepal Rastra Bank Maha Prasad Adhikari said that banks should increase investment in agriculture.

He said that though the ADBL was being operated as a Class A commercial bank in recent times, it had been according first priority to agriculture.
He said that the last year's monetary policy had given the ADBL an opportunity to issue agricultural bonds as a lead bank in the agricultural sector in order to create more investment opportunities in the sector.

Governor Adhikari said that the ADBL should run programmes, including commercial banking, to support the progress of agriculture and farmers in the days ahead as the bank has arranged Kisan Credit Card for the convenience of the farmers.
Anil Kumar Upadhyay, ADBL Chief Executive Officer, committed that the bank would provide modern and digital banking services by reaching to the people’s doorsteps and aiming to reduce poverty and contributing to national economy.

Stating that the bank had been providing various services ranging from credit cards, mobile banking, ADBL remit, QR teller service, online banking account to Kisan Credit Card and App, Upadhyay said that the bank was working with a goal to deliver complete digital and smart banking service and taking the bank to a newer height.
The bank has recently introduced the product of foreign currency savings and fixed deposit account for non-resident Nepalis.

After the introduction of the online foreign currency account opening system, Nepalis living abroad will be able to open a foreign currency account with zero balance by uploading the required documents and filling the online account opening form of the bank, he said.
He further said that these steps of the bank would help it become accessible to the people across the country.

The bank has collected Rs.158 billion from the 1.5 million depositors and disbursed loans of Rs. 175 billion to 156,000 creditors. Of the total loan disbursement, the share of credit flow to the agriculture sector is at 40 per cent.

The bank is able to provide 21 per cent dividends to its around 300,000 shareholders, he said.
Chairman of the bank Ramesh Kumar KC said the bank would play an important role in implementing the priority programmes of the government by updating the services of the bank as needed.
On the occasion, the bank honoured its employees serving 20 and 25 years.