A Study on the Role of Money Lenders in Guntur District, A.P.

Moneylenders have always been known for their explorative practices and prices in lending poor. They have strengthened since liberalization; their share in the decade following it has risen substantially. This study examines the role of informal credit in Guntur district. Specific objectives were to find out strength and weakness of money lenders/indigenous bankers. To evaluate the performance of money lenders and to study the impact of demographic factors on turnover of the business, customer base and its growth. The study conveniently sampled 249 respondents and questionnaires were used to collect the data. By using some statistical tools, we found that there is a significant relation between the demographic factors and turnover of their business. The strengths of moneylenders and indigenous bankers whether they are capable of increasing their turnover and weakness whether they are unable to recover few loans i.e. they are having few bad debts. The performance of the moneylenders and indigenous bankers showed an uprising trend.