The institutional credit has been conceived to play a pivotal role in the agricultural development of India. A large number of institutional agencies are involved in the disbursement of credit to agriculture. However, the persistence of money lenders in the rural credit market is still a major...

Bihar is characterized by excessive dependence of population on agriculture and dominance of small land holders. Small and marginal farmers constitute about 90 per cent of total farm households, whereas farm households owning land less than 0.5 constitute 78 per cent of total farm households and...