Why NABARD Wants to Study Traditional Finance Sector now in the North Eastern Region of India?

Today, various advanced methodologies of finance sector like microfinance serve as a means to meet financial needs of poor people. Besides this, the banking system too provides various facilities to both urban and rural India. The interesting fact is that despite the presence of these viable and sustainable credit delivery methodologies, traditional finance systems are still being survived by the people of North Eastern Region of India. The most popular is Marup of Manipur which is an inbuilt system of meeting credit needs. The uniqueness lies in its methodology and basis of group organization. Recently, this institution caught the attention of the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), India. The paper attempts at analyzing the organization of this institution that makes it popular and accepted by people when other institution of its kind are no longer considered as effective in meeting credit needs of today's poor.