Page 47 - BANKING FINANCE NOVEMBER 2023

ARTICLE

CHANGING

FACE OF AGRI

BANKING

Introduction : holdings; the production of the farms is lower, and the
income is lower. To increase the productivity of the farm
The Banks in India have played a vital role in the
development of the country's economy, be it the rural one fields, it is required to adopt modern technology, and that
will also cost investment; hence, the importance of the
or the urban one. More specifically, the Indian public sector
banks, The Regional Rural Banks and the cooperative banks lending institutions became more crucial.
have been serving the financial needs of the rural population
of the country since their very initial days. In India, where Agriculturist in India
more than 65% of the population lives in villages. These The Department of Agriculture, Co-operation, and Farmers
communities had only experienced banking in the last two Welfare conducts an agriculture census every five years to
to three decades. In the modern age of technology, the rural collect data on the structural characteristics of the
areas of the country are also not untouched by the adoption agricultural sector, including the size of agricultural land
of technology. The majority of the farmers have small land holdings in the country. As per the latest information
available from the Agriculture Census, the average size of
About the author operational holdings has decreased from 2.28 hectares in
1970-71 to 1.84 hectares in 1980-81, to 1.41 hectares in
Md Shahid Kabeer 1995-96, and to 1.08 hectares in 2015-16.
Senior Manager - Faculty,
Union Bank Of India Due to rapid growth in the village population and the
Zonal Learning Centre emergence of the nuclear family concept, the land holdings
Visakhapatnam of Indian farmers are shrinking gradually.

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