Sharma, M.L.Dyundi, Ekta2021-02-012021-02-012020-12https://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810160773Financial inclusion plays an important role in the overall economic development of the people and helps the masses to break the vicious cycle of poverty and become financially stable. It makes the people better aware of the various schemes launched by the government for the betterment of the people. In terms of agriculture, Kisan Credit Scheme was launched by the government in 1998 to cater the credit needs of the farmers. It also aimed to decrease the dependency of the farmers on the non-institutional sources of the credit. Uttarakhand has an un-tapped potential for variety of high-value crops which requires some external sources of credit. Since more than 85 per cent of the farmers in Uttarakhand are small and marginal, the need for credit becomes even higher. The farmers can take the advantages of such schemes only if they are aware if it for which financial inclusion is the key. In the backdrop of these problems, the present study was conducted in Uttarakhand. All the thirteen districts of the state were considered for the objectives for which the required information was based on secondary sources of data whereas, Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar districts were considered for the objectives for which the required information was based on primary sources of data. Multistage sampling technique was used to collect the primary data pertaining to the year 2019- 20 from forty-eight KCC holders and forty-eight non-KCC holders across Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar districts to find out the factors affecting the possession of KCC by the farmers. Time-series data was also collected from the year 2009-10 to 2019-20 to examine the coverage of financial inclusion and growth of institutional credit across the state. To achieve the various objectives of study, descriptive and econometric methods were used. The results revelated that people possessed only the basic knowledge regarding the various banking facilities but lacked the practical knowledge about the same. It was also revealed that only four districts of the state namely Dehradun, Nainital, Bageshwar and Champawat falls under high financial inclusion category based on the CRISIL score. Commercial banks recorded the highest growth rate in 10 years (35.15 %) in terms of growth of institutional credit towards agriculture as well in terms of distribution of KCC (16.09 %). Years of education, operating land holding size and economically active members of the family exhibited a positive relationship with the probability of possessing a KCC whereas income from the farm-sector possessed a negative relationship with the probability of possessing a KCC. Large farmers were found to be using the KCC most efficiently. Whereas on other hand, small category farmers were not able to reap the benefits of the KCC to the fullest. It is advised that more steps should be taken by concerned authorities in order in increase the level of financial inclusion. Farmers unwillingness towards the KCC should be tackled efficiently. For this some workshops should be organized for the farmers in which all their queries can be identified and a more friendly and comfortable environment can be created which will increase farmer’s participation under the scheme. Also, the KCC scheme should be extended to larger mass of people either by decreasing the rate of interest or increasing the repayment time.EnglishThesis