Development of the rural credit delivery system in the country has metamorp
hosed from monopoly of cooperatives to the induction of commercial banks an
d establishment of regional rural banks for improving the outreach and ensu
ring access to credit in rural areas. With the implementation of financial
sector reforms, the accent is on ensuring the financial health of the syste
m. Innovations in rural credit. Accelerating the pace of capital formation
in agriculture, infrastructure development with focus on transportation and
marketing, ensuring credit discipline will enable the rural sector to abso
rb more credit from institutional sources. The focus should be on strategie
s that are required for tackling issues such as sustainability and viabilit
y, operation efficiency, recovery performance, small farmer coverage and ba
lanced sectoral development.