Providing financial services in rural areas is a challenge as agriculture and other rural economic activities have unique characteristics of dependence on natural resources, long production cycles and vulnerability to multiple risks (all of us remember the old adage “Indian agriculture is a gamble in monsoon”).
Meanwhile, with regard to private consumption, although relatively weak developments had been seen in some of its indicators through the first half of 2016, it has picked up thereafter and has increased its resilience recently (Chart 5).