This book examines the responses of the Indian states to economic reforms, and addresses a wide range of issues, such as growth dynamics, income inequality, the fiscal behaviour of the states, the role of the banking sector, and the emerging institutional structure aimed at catering for social banking and strategies for agricultural growth.

Regional rural banks(RRBs) in India hold great promise for financial inclusion given their rural penetration. However, financial viability of the RRBs has been a matter of concern since the early days of their inception. Restructuring of RRBs were taken up through a process of amalgamation of existing RRBs in late 2005 to improve their financial health. Following merger, there have been improvement in the financial performance of RRBs and the number of loss making RRBs has come down significantly. However, the RRBs as a system is still making losses as the accumulated losses far outweigh the...