Indebtedness of Rural Households with Special Reference to Small and Marginal Farmers

Small and marginal farmers are accorded priority with targets of bank credit to this segment to be achieved by commercial banks in a span of 2 years. From this perspective, the existing database on the supply side of credit of commercial banks is examined. Demand side investigations on indebtedness and allied data, available from the results of decennial surveys, namely the Situation Assessment Survey of Agricultural Households and the All-India Debt and Investment Survey of Households conducted in the 70th round of the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) are also critically reviewed. Rural indebtedness to credit agencies over decades, available from the results of the NSSO decennial surveys on debt and investment of the Households, as also improvements in the database, is discussed towards the end of the paper.