According to NSSO Data 45.9 million farmer households in the country don't access credit either from institutional or non institutional sources i.e. 51.4% of the total 89.3 million households.

Despite the vast network of bank branches, only 27% of total farm households are indebted to formal sources (of which one-third also borrow from informal sources).

"the process of ensuring access to financial services and timely and adequate credit where needed by vulnerable groups such as weaker sections and low income groups at an affordable cost."

C Rangarajan

With a clear target under National Rural Financial Inclusion Plan (NRFIP) to provide access to comprehensive financial services, including credit, to atleast 50% of financially excluded households, say 55.77 million by 2012 through rural/semi-urban branches of Commercial Banks and Regional Rural Banks. Semi-urban and rural branches of commercial banks and RRBs must set for themselves a minimum target of covering 250 new cultivator and non-cultivator households per branch per annum, with an emphasis on financing marginal farmers and poor non-cultivator households.

Extending outreach on a scale envisaged under NRFIP would be possible only by leveraging technology to open up channels beyond branch network. Adoption of appropriate technology would enable the branches to go where the customer is present instead of the other way round.

This, however, is in addition to extending traditional mode of banking by targeted branch expansion in identified districts. The Business Facilitator/Business Correspondent (BF/BC) models riding on appropriate technology can deliver this outreach and should form the core of the strategy for extending financial inclusion. The Committee has made some recommendations for relaxation of norms for expanding the coverage of BF/BC. Ultimately, banks should endeavor to have a BC touch point in each of the 6,00,000 villages in the country.

BC is nothing but equivalent to one man branch of the bank in the present system.