Abstract
The cooperative credit structure in India is almost a century old. The cooperatives were the only institutions providing institutional credit to agriculture till the commercial banks emerged on the scene in a big way, particularly, after their nationalization in 1969 and social banking became their major thrust. Credit cooperatives today cover 69% of the rural credit outlets and their share in rural credit works out to about 45 % of the total credit for the rural sector in the country. The economy of Rajasthan continues to be agrarian and agrarian-dominated and according to the 2011 census, about two-thirds of the population still lives in rural areas, which directly or indirectly depend on the agricultural sector for their livelihood. After 70 years of independence still large numbers of people in rural areas of Rajasthan are struggling for their basic needs of livelihood. In rural areas of Rajasthan, a large number of people are still living below the poverty line and they are not benefited by microfinance by the cooperative sector. The role of credit in the agricultural economy is crucial and it helps in enhancing productivity and promoting the standard of living of the farmers. The economy of Rajasthan is agriculture based and thus cooperative movement in Rajasthan plays a very significant role in the social and economic development of the state, particularly in rural areas. Initially, this movement was confined to agricultural credit, later on, it rapidly spread to other fields like agro-processing, agro-marketing, milk production, rural industries, etc. The very purpose of the present study is to examine the growth and performance of the cooperative sector for agriculture credit in India and with special reference to Rajasthan from 2005-06 to 2015-16. The study also analyzes the role of PACS, DCCBS, and SCBS separately in agricultural credit, for this purpose Average Annual Growth Rate (AAGR) has been calculated.
Keywords: Cooperative banks, Agricultural credit, PACS, DCCBS, SCBS, Rural credit, Rajasthan
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