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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Small farmers still excluded from formal financial channels

Small farmers still excluded from formal financial channels

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published Published on Mar 7, 2012   modified Modified on Mar 7, 2012
-The Economic Times

Small and marginal farmers who constitute more than 80% of total farmer households in the country face exclusion from formal financial channels," says the Nair Committee on priority sector lending. The same report says "commercial banks have been prescribed targets since late 1960s for priority sector lending". 

The banking system failed the farmers and the needy despite nationalisation, but is there a viable model that could help the millions who keep feeding the mouths and those small scale industries that employ millions. 

This is the state of affairs despite numerous regional rural banks, co-operative credit agencies, non-banking finance companies and even micro-finance companies that appeared to be delivering, but failed because of some greedy investors. 

Eighteen out of 26 state-run banks and 10 private lenders did not meet the 18% agriculture loan target in 2010-11, says the Reserve Bank of India's latest Trend and Progress of Banking in India report. Seven state-run and one private bank failed to meet the overall 40% priority sector target last financial year. Foreign banks, which have a target of 32% of their past year's net credit, have also failed. 

To change the fortunes of millions, the Nair Committee has recommended a sub-target of 9% for small and marginal farmers and 7% for micro enterprises, which some believe will make a difference to the deprived sections of the society. 

But the fact is that when the model of forcing commercial banks that lend for projects such as airports and atomic power had not worked in the past, there is a need to search for an alternative that the Nair Committee may have missed. 

"We are long advocating for creating a national rural bank with state-level regional rural banks as its wings," says Dilip Kumar Mukherjee, secretary general at All India Regional Rural Bank Employees Association. "A bigger rural lending entity would easily achieve economies of scale, while the current format of RRBs continue to struggle with lack of scale. Such entities can be used for priority lending effectively." 

The difficulties of forcing commercial banks to meet the needs of rural economy are fraught with pitfalls. Instances of banks classifying lending to activities remotely connected to farm lending as priority sector loans. In fact, the central bank had to scrap priority status to gold-backed loans to farmers by non-banking finance companies and securitisation of some loans, sensing misuse. 

But some believe that specific focus to small and marginal farmers is the right way to go, though it may be a long wait for the fruits. 

"This will be one step in the right direction," says A Krishna Kumar, managing director at State Bank of India. "We have to work out a model. This is something that needs to be done. In due course, once banks are confident about the functioning of business correspondents and customer service points in remote areas, they can also be developed for marketing of loan products and handling loan applications." 

The origin of this approach is rooted in the credit policy for 1967-68, which emphasised that commercial banks should increase their engagement in financing priority areas such as agriculture, exports and small-scale industries. The fact remains that mainstream commercial banks continue to lend to large and wealthy farmers in the name of priority sector advances to meet regulation, while the poor continue to borrow from money lenders at exorbitant rates. This defeats the purpose of directed lending. 

Recently, a state-run bank, part funded a Toyota car to a wealthy Gujarat-based farmhouse owner and classified it as priority sector lending. When ET brought this to the notice of the regulator, a Reserve Bank of India official dismissed it, terming it 'exceptional'. But lending to large and rich farmers remains a choice for banks to boost their priority sector advances as they admit they lack the wherewithal to lend to small and marginalised farmers who need it the most. 

Way back in 1991, the Narasimham Committee on Financial Sector Reforms had recommended phasing out directed lending and instead suggested separate focus on small and marginal farmers, tiny sector of industry, small businesses and transport operators, village and cottage industries, rural artisans and other weaker sections by directing 10% of bank credit towards these segments. 

But the recent developments in technology and other modes such as correspondent banking are giving hopes that direct lending itself could do the magic. In the last few years, state-run banks have been working hard to reach out to 73,000 unbanked villages with a population of over 2,000 by building brick and mortar branches and creating business correspondent network. 

"It will be in banks' own interest to lend more to the weaker section in the interiors and make the new banking channels viable," says P Mohanaiah, regional head for National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development in Andhra Pradesh. "Otherwise, it will be a sheer waste of investment." 

The purpose of banking is to lend to business and unless businesses are profitable, banks won't find it right to lend to even industries. 

Governmental policies have been one of the biggest obstacles in making farming viable in the country. Agriculture is not conducted the way business is done. Farmers are not reaping the benefits of development with the government still dominating the way products are priced. 

Whenever there's a price gain for farm products, the government jumps to curb it with many controls. It banned cotton exports where farmers would have reaped the benefits of rising global prices. These kinds of controls lead to defaults and end up blaming farmers. 

"It should be purpose-led," says Debabrata Sarkar, executive director at Allahabad Bank. "And state governments need to enact the Agriculture Produce Market Committee, or APMC, Acts to allow farmers realise the correct price for their produce. Otherwise, they will continue to sell foodgrains in distress and default to banks." 

Priority sector should not only be targeted to lend funds, but also be treated well to ensure that their businesses are successful. The purpose of lifting millions out of subsistence living will not be achieved even in the next four decades so long as the government does not let them reap the benefits of higher prices even if it means letting the inflation numbers disturb its vote-bank.

The Economic Times, 7 March, 2012, http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/banking/finance/banking/small-farmers-still-excluded-from-formal-financial-channels/articleshow/12169321.cm


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