Artificial intelligence in rural lending is generating enormous excitement. Satellite imagery, machine learning, alternative data — the possibilities sound transformative. Some of it is real. A lot of it is hype. After working in rural finance for three decades, here is my honest assessment. What is real and working: Alternative data credit scoring is genuinely useful where traditional data is absent. ML models using satellite imagery to verify crop acreage, weather data to a

Farmer Producer Organisations have been around for years. But most lenders still do not know how to lend through them effectively. The result: FPOs remain underleveraged as a credit channel despite being one of the strongest structures available for reaching small farmers. Here is how FPO-mediated credit works at its core. The FPO sits between the lender and individual farmers. Instead of appraising 200 small farmers individually — each with informal income, fragmented land r