Work 06 · India · 2025
Universal access to agricultural credit in India
A legal, administrative, and fintech reform framework to bring affordable institutional credit to every Indian farmer — and to track whether it arrives.
About a quarter of Indian farmers' borrowing still comes from informal lenders, often at rates above 20%. Written with Nandini Krishnan, Raghav Mehrotra, Rohit Meena, and Piyush Zaware this policy framework (February 2025) targets four binding constraints: weak collateral from fragmented land records and unrecognized tenancy, lender risk and recovery, the high cost of rural delivery, and unequal allocation across regions and agriculture-allied activities.
The proposals include a Centralized Land Reform Council to standardize land-record digitization, scaled tenancy certification, calibrated SARFAESI coverage paired with a credit guarantee fund, business-correspondent and MFI channels, API-based data sharing through AgriStack and a Unified Lending Interface, and a new Priority Sector Lending sub-category for allied activities. It closes with a phased 36-month roadmap, safeguards, and metrics for inclusion, pricing, risk, and productivity.