Innovations in Agricultural Credit Disbursement and Payment Systems for Financial Inclusion in Rural India

Abstract

Provision of sufficient and disbursement of credit in time to the peasant community plays an important role in faster and sustainable growth of agriculture and allied activities in the countryside. A large number of people in rural areas depended on agricultural and allied activities as a major source of employment and income and hence it has been considered as the backbone of the economy. Besides most rural households lack access to reliable and affordable finance for agriculture and other livelihood activities. Urgency of innovative approaches and tighter provision of credit was felt after the financial crisis. A huge potentiality of rural and agriculture innovation can be seen to improve food security and livelihood of rural poor. Improved credit flow by banks to small and marginal farmers (SMFs) was the result of policy intervention by introducing Kisan Credit Card (KCC). It had increased the disbursement of farm credit and improved its coverage. Besides KCC other credit delivery model helped in inclusion of the bottom of the pyramid International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 9 Number 2 (2020) Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com