Kisan Credit Card — IT-enabled Credit Delivery System

The Kisan Credit Card (KCC) Scheme, introduced in the year 1998–99 with a view to improving the credit delivery system of crop loans, has not been able to provide the intended benefits to the farmers. To make KCC more effective, use of mobile-based banking services has been suggested. The m-KCC was introduced by NABARD and Indian Bank in the Pallavan Grama Bank with the service provider ‘PayMate’ for about 5000 farmers. The project has enabled the farmers to buy inputs without carrying a banker cheque or a demand draft and conducting the transaction through mobile phone linked to bank's CBS. A service provider acts as an interface between farmers, vendors and the bank. The project has confirmed that use of mobile-based banking will not only make it easy for the farmers to access crop loan credit as close to their homestead but also result in savings of transaction cost. The paper has suggested the replication of the scheme on a large scale.