Socio–Economic Factors Influencing Default in Repayment of Loans at Primary Agricultural Co-Operative Credit Societies in Pudukkottai District

The economic development of the nation depends on banks and financial institutions which provides financial assistance to uplift the poor and the under privileged sections. Co-operative banks form an important segment of the Indian financial system. It is only the co-operative banks that opened the doors of banks to the smallest of small man. It offers farm loans, equipment loans and allied services loans. But the perennial problem faced by the co-operative banks is the presence of overdues in all these years. The non-repayment of loans results in huge amounts of overdue, which destabilize the motto of the co-operative societies. The study examined influence of socio–economic characteristics on overdue of default borrowers. It was revealed that the area under irrigation, family consumption expenditure and total amount of credit borrowed had significantly influenced the overdues of both willful and non-willful defaulters.