Rural Banks Under Globalisation

Orissa is an underdeveloped state in spite of its vast natural resources. The state is rural in character and it is considered as an agricultural economy. From among the various factors of economic development of the state timely and adequate amount of credit is one of the important factor to be taken into consideration. As the non-institutional agencies have been exploiting the rural poor, and the nationalised banks alongwith the co-operatives are not able to meet the entire credit needs of rural poor, the Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) were set up under RRBs’ Act, 1976. Due to multi-agency approach and target-oriented institutional credit, the rural mass could now get more and more credit from more than one agency. Due to improper use of institutional credit by the borrowers and due to improper management by the bank authorities, the loans become overdue and such overdues are mounting year after year. This has adversely affected the re-cycling process of funds of the credit agencies including the RRBs. This mounting overdues became a serious concern not only to the credit agencies but also to the state as well as the public at large. This book throws adequate light on various aspects of lending by RRBs in both agricultural as well as non-agricultural sectors. It also highlights the overdues of the RRBs which is a burning problem of the country. This book will be of much use to the planners, government, research scholars, financing institutions and others.