Notes For The Teacher: Chapter 3: Money and Credit
Notes For The Teacher: Chapter 3: Money and Credit
Notes For The Teacher: Chapter 3: Money and Credit
2020-21
CHAPTER 3
MONEY AND
CREDIT
MONEY AS A MEDIUM OF EXCHANGE
The use of money spans a very large difficult it would be if the shoe
part of our everyday life. Look around manufacturer had to directly
you and you would easily be able to exchange shoes for wheat without the
identify several transactions involving use of money. He would have to look
money in any single day. Can you for a wheat growing farmer who not I DON’T NEED
make a list of these? In many of these only wants to sell wheat SHOES. I NEED
I’LL GIVE
transactions, goods are being bought YOU SHOES but also wants to buy the CLOTHES.
and sold with the use of money. In FOR YOUR shoes in exchange.
some of these transactions, services WHEAT. That is, both parties
are being exchanged with money. For have to agree to
some, there might not be any actual sell and buy each
transfer of money taking place now others commodities.
but a promise to pay money later. This is known as
double coincidence
Have you ever wondered why
of wants. What a person
transactions are made in I WANT SHOES.
desires to sell is exactly what the
money? The reason is simple. BUT I DON’T HAVE
other wishes to buy. In a barter WHEAT.
A person holding money can easily
system where goods are directly
exchange it for any commodity or
exchanged without the use of money,
service that he or she might want.
double coincidence of wants is an
Thus everyone prefers to receive
essential feature.
payments in money and then
exchange the money for things that In contrast, in an economy where
they want. Take the case of a shoe money is in use, money by providing
manufacturer. He wants to sell shoes the crucial intermediate step
in the market and buy wheat. The eliminates the need for double
shoe manufacturer will first exchange coincidence of wants. It is no longer
shoes that he has produced for necessary for the shoe manufacturer
money, and then exchange the money to look for a farmer who will buy his
for wheat. Imagine how much more shoes and at the same time sell him
M ONEY AND C REDIT 39
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wheat. All he has to do is find a buyer
for his shoes. Once he has exchanged
his shoes for money, he can purchase
wheat or any other commodity in the
market. Since money acts as an
intermediate in the exchange process,
it is called a medium of exchange.
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Demand deposits offer another made by cheques instead of cash.
interesting facility. It is this facility For payment through cheque, the
which lends it the essential payer who has an account with the
characteristics of money (that of a bank, makes out a cheque for a
medium of exchange). You would specific amount. A cheque is a
have heard of payments being paper instructing the bank to pay
a specific amount from the
person’s account to the person in
UNDERSTAND whose name the cheque has been
LET US TRY AND
YM ENTS ARE
HOW CHEQUE PA issued.
RE ALISED WITH
MADE AND
AN EXAMPLE.
Cheque Payments
A shoe manufacturer, M. Salim has to make a payment to the leather supplier and writes
a cheque for a specific amount. This means that the shoe manufacturer instructs his
bank to pay this amount to the leather supplier. The leather supplier takes this cheque,
and deposits it in his own account in the bank. The money is transferred from one bank
account to another bank account in a couple of days. The transaction is complete without
any payment of cash.
Account number
Bank branch
code
Thus we see that demand deposits You must remember the role that
share the essential features of money. the banks play here. But for the
The facility of cheques against demand banks, there would be no demand
deposits makes it possible to directly deposits and no payments by
settle payments without the use of cash. cheques against these deposits. The
Since demand deposits are accepted modern forms of money — currency
widely as a means of payment, along and deposits — are closely linked to
with currency, they constitute money the working of the modern banking
in the modern economy. system.
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LET’S WORK THESE OUT
1. M. Salim wants to withdraw Rs 20,000 in cash for making payments. How would he
write a cheque to withdraw money?
2. Tick the correct answer.
After the transaction between Salim and Prem,
(i) Salim’s balance in his bank account increases, and Prem’s balance increases.
(ii) Salim’s balance in his bank account decreases and Prem’s balance increases.
(iii) Salim’s balance in his bank account increases and Prem’s balance decreases.
3. Why are demand deposits considered as money?
DEPOSITORS BORROWERS
People make People take
deposits loans
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TWO DIFFERENT CREDIT SITUATIONS
A large number of transactions in our day-to-day activities
involve credit in some form or the other. Credit (loan) refers to
an agreement in which the lender supplies the borrower with
money, goods or services in return for the promise of future
payment. Let us see how credit works through the following
two examples.
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In rural areas, the main demand In Swapna’s case, the failure of the
for credit is for crop production. Crop crop made loan repayment
production involves considerable impossible. She had to sell part of the
costs on seeds, fertilisers, pesticides, land to repay the loan. Credit, instead
water, electricity, repair of equipment, of helping Swapna improve her
etc. There is a minimum stretch of earnings, left her worse off. This is an
three to four months between the time example of what is commonly called
when the farmers buy these inputs debt-trap. Credit in this case pushes
and when they sell the crop. Farmers the borrower into a situation from
usually take crop loans at the which recovery is very painful.
beginning of the season and repay the
In one situation credit helps to
loan after harvest. Repayment of the
increase earnings and therefore the
loan is crucially dependent on the
person is better off than before. In
income from farming.
another situation, because of the
crop failure, credit
pushes the person into
LET’S WORK THESE OUT a debt trap. To repay
1. Fill the following table. her loan she has to sell
Salim Swapna
a portion of her land.
She is clearly much
Why did they need credit?
worse off than before.
What was the risk? Whether credit would
What was the outcome? be useful or not,
therefore, depends
2. Supposing Salim continues to get orders from traders. What would be on the risks in the
his position after 6 years? situation and whether
3. What are the reasons that make Swapna’s situation so risky? Discuss there is some support,
factors – pesticides; role of moneylenders; climate. in case of loss.
TERMS OF CREDIT
Every loan agreement specifies an repayment of the principal. In
interest rate which the borrower must addition, lenders may demand
pay to the lender along with the collateral (security) against loans.
Collateral is an asset that the
borrower owns (such as land,
building, vehicle, livestocks,
deposits with banks) and uses this
as a guarantee to a lender until
the loan is repaid. If the borrower
fails to repay the loan, the lender has
the right to sell the asset or collateral
to obtain payment. Property such as
land titles, deposits with banks,
livestock are some common examples
of collateral used for borrowing.
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A House Loan
Megha has taken a loan of Rs 5 lakhs from the
bank to purchase a house. The annual interest
rate on the loan is 12 per cent and the loan is to
be repaid in 10 years in monthly instalments.
Megha had to submit to the bank, documents
showing her employment records and salary
before the bank agreed to give her the loan. The
bank retained as collateral the papers of the new
house, which will be returned to Megha only
when she repays the entire loan with interest.
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Variety of Credit Arrangements
Example of a Village
Rohit and Ranjan had finished reading about the terms of credit in class.
They were eager to know the various credit arrangements that existed in
their area: who were the people who provided credit? Who were the
borrowers? What were the terms of credit? They decided to talk to some
people in their village. Read what they record...
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Loans from Cooperatives
Besides banks, the other major source of cheap credit
in rural areas are the cooperative societies (or
cooperatives). Members of a cooperative pool their
resources for cooperation in certain areas. There are
several types of cooperatives possible such as
far mers cooperatives, weavers cooperatives,
industrial workers cooperatives, etc. Krishak
Cooperative functions in a village not very far away
from Sonpur. It has 2300 farmers as members. It
accepts deposits from its members. With these
deposits as collateral, the Cooperative has obtained
a large loan from the bank. These funds are used to
provide loans to members. Once these loans are
repaid, another round of lending can take place.
Krishak Cooperative provides loans for the purchase
of agricultural implements, loans for cultivation
and agricultural trade, fishery loans, loans for
construction of houses and for a variety of other
expenses.
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FORMAL SECTOR CREDIT IN INDIA
We have seen in the
above examples that Graph 1 : Sources of Credit per Rs 1000
people obtain loans from of Rural Households in India in 2012
various sources. The
Other non
various types of loans Institutional Government 1%
can be conveniently Agencies 2%
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choose. There is no one to stop them Formal and Informal Credit:
from using unfair means to get their Who gets what?
money back.
Graph 2 shows the importance of
Compared to the formal lenders, formal and informal sources of credit
most of the informal lenders charge a
for people in urban areas. The people
much higher interest on loans. Thus, are divided into four groups, from
the cost to the borrower of informal poor to rich, as shown in the figure.
loans is much higher. You can see that 85 per cent of the
Higher cost of borrowing means a loans taken by poor households in the
larger part of the earnings of the urban areas are from informal
borrowers is used to repay the loan. sources. Compare this with the rich
Hence, borrowers have less income urban households. What do you
left for themselves (as we saw for find? Only 10 per cent of their loans
Shyamal in Sonpur). In certain are from informal sources, while 90
cases, the high interest rate for per cent are from formal sources. A
borrowing can mean that the amount similar pattern is also found in rural
to be repaid is greater than the areas. The rich households are
income of the borrower. This could availing cheap credit from formal
lead to increasing debt (as we saw for lenders whereas the poor households
Rama in Sonpur) and debt trap. Also, have to pay a large amount for
people who might wish to start an borrowing.
enterprise by borrowing may not do What does all this suggest? First,
so because of the high cost of the formal sector still meets only about
borrowing. half of the total credit needs of the
For these reasons, banks and rural people. The remaining credit
cooperative societies need to lend needs are met from informal sources.
more. This would lead
to higher incomes Graph 2 : Of all the loans taken by urban housholds, what
and many people percentage was formal and what percentage was informal?
could then borrow
cheaply for a variety
of needs. They 15% 10%
could grow crops, do 28%
business, set up 53% 47%
85% 72% 90%
small-scale industries
etc. They could set up
new industries or poor households well-off rich
trade in goods. Cheap housholds with few assets households households
and affordable credit
is crucial for the
BLUE : Per cent of loans from the INFORMAL sector
country’s develop-
ment. PURPLE : Per cent of loans from the FORMAL sector
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Most loans from informal lenders Secondly, while formal sector
carry a very high interest rate and do loans need to expand, it is also
little to increase the income of the necessary that everyone receives
borrowers. Thus, it is necessary these loans. At present, it is the richer
that banks and cooperatives households who receive formal credit
increase their lending particularly whereas the poor have to depend on
in the rural areas, so that the the informal sources. It is important
dependence on informal sources that the formal credit is distributed
of credit reduces. more equally so that the poor can
benefit from the cheaper loans.
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their earlier loans. However, the to be granted — the purpose, amount,
moneylenders charge very high rates interest to be charged, repayment
of interest, keep no records of the schedule etc. Also, it is the group
transactions and harass the poor which is responsible for the repayment
borrowers. of the loan. Any case of non-
repayment of loan by any one
In recent years, people have tried
member is followed up seriously by
out some newer ways of providing
other members in the group. Because
loans to the poor. The idea is to
of this feature, banks are willing to
organise rural poor, in particular
lend to the poor women when
women, into small Self Help Groups
organised in SHGs, even though they
(SHGs) and pool (collect) their
have no collateral as such.
savings. A typical SHG has 15-20
members, usually belonging to one Thus, the SHGs help borrowers
neighbourhood, who meet and save overcome the problem of lack of
regularly. Saving per member varies collateral. They can get timely loans
from Rs 25 to Rs 100 or more, for a variety of purposes and at a
depending on the ability of the people reasonable interest rate. Moreover,
to save. Members can take small loans SHGs are the building blocks of
from the group itself to meet their organisation of the rural poor. Not
needs. The group charges interest on only does it help women to become
these loans but this is still less than financially self-reliant, the regular
what the moneylender charges. After meetings of the group provide a
a year or two, if the group is regular platform to discuss and act on a
in savings, it becomes eligible for variety of social issues such as health,
availing loan from the bank. nutrition, domestic violence, etc.
Loan is sanctioned in the
name of the group and is A women’s self-help group
meeting in Gujarat
meant to create self-
employment opportunities
for the members. For
instance, small loans are
provided to the members for
releasing mortgaged land,
for meeting working capital
needs (e.g. buying seeds,
fertilisers, raw materials
like bamboo and cloth), for
housing materials, for
acquiring assets like sewing
machine, handlooms, cattle,
etc.
Most of the important
decisions regarding the
savings and loan activities
are taken by the group
members. The group
decides as regards the loans
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Grameen Bank of Bangladesh
Grameen Bank of Bangladesh is one of the
biggest success stories in reaching the poor to “If credit can be made available to
meet their credit needs at reasonable rates. the poor people on terms and
Started in the 1970s as a small project, conditions that are appropriate and
Grameen Bank in 2018 had over 9 million reasonable these millions of small
members in about 81,600 villages spread people with their millions of small
across Bangladesh. Almost all of the borrowers pursuits can add up to create the
are women and belong to poorest sections of biggest development wonder.”
the society. These borrowers have proved that Professor Muhammad Yunus,
not only are poor women reliable borrowers, but the founder of Grameen Bank,
that they can start and run a variety of small and recipient of 2006 Nobel Prize for Peace
income-generating activities successfully.
SUMMING UP
In this chapter we have looked at the credit vary substantially between
modern forms of money and how they formal and informal lenders. At
are linked with the banking system. present, it is the richer households
On one side are the depositors who who receive credit from formal sources
keep their money in the banks and on whereas the poor have to depend on
the other side are the borrowers who the informal sources. It is essential
take loans from these banks. Economic that the total formal sector credit
activities require loans or credit. Credit, increases so that the dependence on
as we saw can have a positive impact, the more expensive informal credit
or in certain situations make the becomes less. Also, the poor should
borrower worse off. get a much greater share of formal
Credit is available from a variety of loans from banks, cooperative
sources. These can be either formal societies etc. Both these steps are
sources or informal sources. Terms of important for development.
EXERCISES
1. In situations with high risks, credit might create further problems for the borrower.
Explain.
2. How does money solve the problem of double coincidence of wants? Explain with
an example of your own.
3. How do banks mediate between those who have surplus money and those who
need money?
4. Look at a 10 rupee note. What is written on top? Can you explain this statement?
5. Why do we need to expand formal sources of credit in India?
6. What is the basic idea behind the SHGs for the poor? Explain in your own words.
7. What are the reasons why the banks might not be willing to lend to certain borrowers?
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8. In what ways does the Reserve Bank of India supervise the functioning of banks?
Why is this necessary?
9. Analyse the role of credit for development.
10. Manav needs a loan to set up a small business. On what basis will Manav decide
whether to borrow from the bank or the moneylender? Discuss.
11. In India, about 80 per cent of farmers are small farmers, who need credit for cultivation.
(a) Why might banks be unwilling to lend to small farmers?
(b) What are the other sources from which the small farmers can borrow?
(c) Explain with an example how the terms of credit can be unfavourable for the
small farmer.
(d) Suggest some ways by which small farmers can get cheap credit.
12. Fill in the blanks:
(i) Majority of the credit needs of the _________________households are met
from informal sources.
(ii) ___________________costs of borrowing increase the debt-burden.
(iii) __________________ issues currency notes on behalf of the Central
Government.
(iv) Banks charge a higher interest rate on loans than what they offer on
__________.
(v) _______________ is an asset that the borrower owns and uses as a guarantee
until the loan is repaid to the lender.
13. Choose the most appropriate answer.
(i) In a SHG most of the decisions regarding savings and loan activities are taken by
(a) Bank.
(b) Members.
(c) Non-government organisation.
(ii) Formal sources of credit does not include
(a) Banks.
(b) Cooperatives.
(c) Employers.
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