Synopsis India pioneered the involvement of the banking system in the assault on rural poverty and in the channelisation of adequate financial resources to the agricultural sector. However, wrong priorities, narrow bureaucratic and political interests, abysmal recoveries, and decisions forced by economic liberalisation have led to the creation of a vast and complex multi-agency credit system beset with many problems. This comprehensive and thought-provoking book reviews the existing rural credit sytem in India, analyses, its strengths and weaknesses and prescribes various strategies and innovations which will enable the existing credit delivery system to emerge stronger and more viable.