Nabard website says birds bankable, economic value of a pair Rs 16 lakh
The Union government was giving interest-free loans to ‘entrepreneurs’ setting up emu farms, which have now turned into a multi-crore scam in Tamil Nadu. These loans were granted under the central government’s Poultry Venture Capital Fund and were routed through the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) and commercial banks. Though the scheme was for all poultry, emus find a mention in the scheme documents and several emu farms in southern states, including Tamil Nadu, have availed themselves of loans under these schemes, say officials.