PACCS and Financial Inclusion: A Study from Small and Marginal Farmers’ Outlook

In India, majority of those people who depend upon agriculture belongs to small and marginal farmer's category and they occupy 85.01 per cent of cultivable lands among total cultivable land in India. These farmers require financial services in their day-to-day life, to purchase agricultural inputs and adopt modern technology. The financial sector in the country has experienced revolutionary changes but, a segment of population especially the small and marginal farmers are excluded from the advantages of this revolutionary process. Hence, for the inclusive growth financial inclusion has been considered as the need of the hour. In this context, PACCS in Tamil Nadu need to redesign their business strategies so as to incorporate specific plans to promote financial inclusion of the small and marginal farmers treating them not only as a corporate social responsibility, but also as a business opportunity. In this background this study was undertaken in Theni District, Tamil Nadu with the primary objective of studying the role of PACCS in the financial inclusion of small and marginal farmers. This study found that there are a wide range of rural financial institutions for small and marginal farmers to avail loan facilities, but having membership with PACCS enables this segment of population in remote rural areas to access financial services with other facilities from what they perceived as a trusted and local community resource based. This study found that the experiences towards financial inclusion of small and marginal farmers through PACCS in Theni District have been progressive. However certain segments of small and marginal farmers were benefitting continuously from the efforts of the PACCS for greater financial inclusion while others were still struggling ever more and being financially excluded. The concern is about these people who were dragged to the valley of forced financial exclusion. Hence, all the actors of the STCCS need to take into account all dimensions of financial inclusion and exclusion. Further evidences are lacking to establish correlation between specific policies of PACCS and the financial inclusion of small and marginal farmers. Hence, still miles to go to financially include all segments of the population, especially the small and marginal farmers.