Agricultural credit from institutional sources such as cooperative societies, commercial banks, and regional rural banks has become increasingly important in India to provide affordable credit to farmers and curtail exploitative moneylenders. Farmers use credit for inputs, supporting their families, land acquisition, improvements, machinery, and irrigation. The major institutional agencies that provide agricultural credit are cooperative credit societies at the primary, central and state levels, commercial banks, land development banks, regional rural banks, and the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, which was established to plan and guide agricultural credit efforts.