Institutional Credit Flow to Farmers in Hill:an Analysis of Credit Gap: Production and Investment Credit Gap in Hills of Uttarakhand,india

The Indian Himalayan Region is divided into North-Eastern and North-Western Himalayan Region that includes 11 states out of which 3 states exist in North-Western Region. Uttarakhand is one of the 3 states embraced by North-Western Himalayan Region. Agriculture is the major occupation in hill region which mainly consists of small and marginal farmers. With saving being negligible among small and marginal farmers, agricultural credit appears to be an essential input for higher production. Although state is having different financial institutions for effective credit support to the farmers but many farmers do not get institutional credit in adequate quantity, at right time, at reasonable cost. Therefore there is need to focus on existing access to formal credit for agricultural purposes by different farmers in hill agriculture of Uttarakhand. The major policy implications of the study are the need to recast the Scale of Finance and to follow by different financial institutions,launch extension programmes regarding credit facilities,expansion of coverage area of financial institutions.