Background

Having access to credit gives you the ability to accelerate your business and expand its potential. It also serves as a foundational pillar for development opportunities. In the context of rural India, dominated by farmers, credit allows them to weather seasonal fluctuations, help invest in higher-yielding seeds, and take sustainable measures with modern equipment. Without sufficient credit access, the farmers remain trapped in subsistence agriculture, unable to scale their operations or improve their livelihoods despite possessing essential knowledge and skills to grow food. India’s agriculture sector nearly supports 600 million people, yet financial exclusion is a persistent barrier to rural development. In a study by the Punjab Agriculture University, it was revealed that 88 percent of farmer suicides in the past 18 years in Punjab were due to farmer debt, which highlights the gravity of inadequate financial access and literacy. The study also conducted a survey, where only 28 percent of the farmers reported confidence in their ability to manage their earnings properly and effectively, and only 21 percent reported being able to manage their debt effectively. This financial vulnerability exposes the farmers to rely upon informal moneylenders who charge exorbitant interest rates and perpetuate the cycle of debt and economic distress.

These barriers penetrate beyond the income limitation and include cumbersome documentation requirements, lack of collateral, and most critically, insufficient awareness about available government schemes and subsidy programs. Geographical isolation compounds these challenges; Only 43 percent of farmers knew about the existing government schemes to help with financial management, leaving over 50 percent of them vulnerable to the existing conditions. And only 22 percent of them availed of the existing government schemes. The credit gap has forced millions of farmers into debt cycles with informal lenders, and continues to do so. It has ruptured their ability to invest in productivity-enhancing technologies or diversify their income sources. And the resulting financial stress contributes to rural distress and agricultural stagnation across much of the country. 

KrishiKredit was founded to disrupt this gap by taking a multipronged approach, all of which aimed to uplift the farming community. Through educational resources, advocacy, and direct financial support, the initiative aspires to transform the narrative of agricultural growth and rural livelihoods.