89
E. Inter-Regional Disparities in Agricultural Credit
Another of the most crucial objectives of bank nationalisation was to
narrow inter-regional and inter-state disparities in banking development,
and with its help, reduce disparities in economic and social development in
general. In this respect, the agricultural sector, which has been the mainstay
of underdeveloped regions and states, required added credit support from the
banking institutions in those areas as they have been historically neglected.
Judged against this background, the inter-regional disparities in credit
distribution by scheduled commercial banks for agricultural in particular
appear to be very wide. Table 4.20 seeks to juxtapose region-wise distribution
of total agricultural credit and similar distribution of all-India number of
farmer households.
14
It is found that today, 46% of total agricultural loan accounts and 33%
of loans outstanding are obtained by the southern region, but this region
accounts for only 18% of the total number of farmer households in the country.
On the other hand, the country’s central region houses 30% of the country’s
farm households but accounts for 21% of agricultural loan accounts and less
than18% of loan amounts outstanding. Likewise, the eastern region has 24%
share in farm households but gets only 8.2% of farm loans.
Table 4.18: Region-wise Shares in Agricultural Credit and
Proportions of Farmer Households
Region
March 2006
Jan-Dec 2003
Total No.
of Bank
Offices
Per cent
to Total
No. of
Loan
Accounts
Per cent
to Total
Credit
Outstanding
(
`
crore)
Per cent
to Total
Estimated
No. of Farmer
Households
(‘100)
Per cent
to Total
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Northern 11,821
16.7
29,74,089
10.2
40,615
23.5
56,380
6.3
North-
Eastern
1,949
2.8
4,46,242
1.5
1,458
0.8
3,48,74
3.9
Eastern
12,308
17.4
39,34,473
13.5
14,133
8.2
21,11,40
23.6
Central
14,104
19.9
61,76,074
21.2
30,416
17.6
27,13,41
30.4
Western
10,996
15.5
24,64,602
8.5
29,739
17.2
15,67,42
17.5
Southern 19,598
27.7
130,72,633
45.0
56,322
32.6
16,15,78
18.1
All-India
70,776
100
29,068,113
100
172,684
100
89,35,04
100.0
Note:
For details of state-wise data, see the source
Source:
As in Annexure C and D.
14
A similar comparison is made elsewhere between agricultural incomes and bank credit.
