Financial inclusion: Rural credit architecture needs an overhaul - M.G.Warrier

........Rise in rural deposits and urban credit created imbalances and certain bypass routes were allowed for banks to achieve their priority lending targets. Like Mutual Funds (MFs) investing in schemes of other MFs to pair risks, banks started searching for other intermediaries like microfinance institutions (MFIs) for providing credit to small borrowers. MFIs, in some cases borrow from banks at low rates and lend at up to three times the borrowing rates, in the same area where bank branches function. So as long as banks source rural deposits, they should also shoulder the responsibility of providing credit in rural areas at reasonable interest rates. The situation calls for a review of the entire rural credit architecture for an overhaul.

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