Teacher, Department of Economics, Acharya Prafulla Chandra College, New Barrack Pore and Ph.D Scholar, Department of Economics, Rabindra Bharati University, West BengalIndia
Online published on 22 March, 2021.
This is a preliminary study looking at non-institutional credit distribution in West Bengal from NSS data. I have considered 59th NSS Round, which focuses on the year 2002 -2003. Urban and rural West Bengal have been selected and compared with respect of its non-institutional credit distribution. Our observation in terms of number of households and volume of loan show non institutional credit emphasis mostly for business purpose in urban West Bengal and in rural West Bengal mostly for agricultural purpose. An Index of Non-institutional Credit Inclusion (INI) has been developed in the study using data on two dimensions of non-institutional credit inclusion to examine the extent of non-institutional credit inclusion in West Bengal. The study shows that urban West Bengal leads with the highest value of INI followed by rural West Bengal. It has revealed that non-institutional lenders are still a dominant source of urban and rural finance despite wide presence of banks in urban and rural areas of West Bengal. The non-institutional credit sources are still trying to support the poorest members of society of entire West Bengal. This is where the credit situation of this state becomes important.
Household Borrowings, Credit Market, Non-institutional Credit Agencies, Rural Areas, Urban Areas
