INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
indebted, a survey by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) showed.
Agricultural households accounting for 48 per
cent of rural households earned Rs 1,07,172 during 2015-16 from cultivation, livestock, nonfarm sector activities and wages/ salaries,
according to a survey on financial inclusion conducted by the agricultural and rural lender.
The survey defined farm households as families
having more than Rs 5,000 as value of produce from agricultural operations in the year preceding the survey
For rural households, the annual income stood at Rs 96,708 on average.
At these levels, farm income grew at a compounded rate of 12 per cent
per annum from Rs 77,112 in 2012-13, according to an assessment by the National Sample Survey Office
The survey showed that income levels for 19 out of 29 states were above all-India average and 15 states recorded annual compound growth of
over 10.5 per cent between 2012-13 and 2015-16.
Conducted with 2015-16 as the reference year, the survey covered 40,327 rural
households.
The average income for households engaged in non-agricultural activities was Rs 87,228.
But the level of indebtedness among
farming families was still higher, the survey showed
Incidence of Indebtedness (IOI), which is a proportion of households having outstanding debt on the date of the survey, was 52.5 per cent
and 42.8 per cent for agricultural and non-agricultural households
All-India IOI of all rural households taken together stood at 47.4 per cent.
Apart from assessing the income levels of rural households, the
survey mapped aspects such as debt, savings, investment, insurance, pension, and financial aptitude and behaviour of individuals.
While 88.1
per cent rural households and 55 per cent agricultural households reported having a bank account, average saving per annum per household was
About 26 per cent of agricultural households and 25 per cent of non-agricultural households were found to have been covered under
