LAISHA
Open Laisha

IBPS SO Agricultural Field Officer, CRP SPL-XVI Agricultural Finance, Credit & Rural Banking: practice questions

IBPS SO Agricultural Field Officer, CRP SPL-XVI (2026) - new pattern · India · Institute of Banking Personnel Selection

Original practice questions written to the published syllabus · not past papers
10worked here, free
57written to this exam in this subject
16syllabus units

What this subject covers

How farmers and rural enterprises borrow, how lenders judge them, and the institutions that make up rural credit. The single highest cross-exam topic in this track.

In the exams: agricultural master's entrance examinations, agricultural economics (heavy); agricultural economics PhD entrance and fellowship examinations, agricultural finance (heavy); agricultural development bank officer recruitment (heavy); agricultural field officer recruitment in banking, agricultural finance (heavy); central bank officer recruitment economic and social issues papers (reported)

Where the 57 questions fall

How our questions for IBPS SO Agricultural Field Officer, CRP SPL-XVI spread across the units of Agricultural Finance, Credit & Rural Banking. Difficulty: 25 easy, 27 medium, 5 hard.

Seasonal crop-credit products8
Scale of finance7
Classification of credit: short, medium and long term; production and investment5
Area-based lead-bank arrangements5
Estimating credit needs4
Rural and community banks4
Interest subsidies for farm credit4
Priority-sector lending4
3Rs/4Rs, 5Cs and 7Ps of credit3
Repayment plans: amortised, even and balloon3
History of agricultural finance2
Central banks and development finance institutions2
Multi-agency approach and the credit gap2
Microfinance, self-help and savings groups, and MFIs2
Role of credit in agriculture1
Bank nationalisation1

10 practice questions, worked

Choose an answer, then open the working. Each explanation says why the right answer is right and why the others are not.

1 · Classification of credit: short, medium and long term; production and investment · medium

Which classification of agricultural credit is based on the economic purpose of the loan rather than on its term, security or lender?

  1. Short-term, medium-term and long-term credit by repayment period
  2. Secured and unsecured credit
  3. Institutional and non-institutional credit
  4. Production, investment, consumption and marketing credit
Answer and working

D. Production, investment, consumption and marketing credit

Purpose-based classes describe what the loan finances: current operations, fixed capital, household needs or holding produce for sale. Term classes follow the length of the loan, secured/unsecured follows collateral, and institutional/non-institutional follows the type of lender.

2 · Bank nationalisation · easy

Which pair of countries both nationalised their large commercial banks in 1982?

  1. India and Brazil
  2. France and Mexico
  3. Germany and Japan
  4. Kenya and Ghana
Answer and working

B. France and Mexico

France nationalised its remaining large banks in 1982 (after an earlier round in 1945) and Mexico nationalised its banks in September 1982 during the debt crisis. India's nationalisations were in 1969 and 1980.

3 · Area-based lead-bank arrangements · easy

The main purpose of an area approach to rural credit is to

  1. Make one body accountable for each district's credit plan
  2. Give one bank a legal monopoly over all farm lending in its district
  3. Fix one national interest rate for every farm loan in every district
  4. Replace the cooperative banks with commercial banks in each district
Answer and working

A. Make one body accountable for each district's credit plan

An area approach assigns responsibility for assessing needs and coordinating lenders in a territory; it does not create a lending monopoly, set rates or abolish cooperatives.

4 · Area-based lead-bank arrangements · medium

An area-based district credit plan is normally built on

  1. Each bank's own deposit targets for the year
  2. The total of the previous year's loan waivers
  3. A sector survey of credit potential
  4. National GDP growth forecasts and nothing else
Answer and working

C. A sector survey of credit potential

District plans start from an assessment of credit potential by sector (crops, livestock, infrastructure, enterprise), which is then shared among lenders. Deposit targets, waivers and national GDP do not show local credit needs.

5 · Area-based lead-bank arrangements · medium

Which is the main risk of area-based credit planning?

  1. It legally forbids banks other than the lead bank to lend
  2. It automatically raises interest rates on farm loans
  3. Planning that becomes target-chasing
  4. It removes any need for lenders to appraise loans
Answer and working

C. Planning that becomes target-chasing

When plan targets become the goal, lenders may book loans to meet them without regard to quality. Area planning does not create a monopoly, set rates or replace appraisal.

6 · Area-based lead-bank arrangements · easy

In an area approach, a provincial or state-level bankers' committee mainly

  1. Sets the central bank's policy interest rate each quarter
  2. Licenses new banks and new bank branches in the province
  3. Coordinates lenders and reviews credit-plan progress
  4. Lends directly to farmers from its own funds
Answer and working

C. Coordinates lenders and reviews credit-plan progress

The provincial committee is a coordination and review forum. Rate setting and licensing belong to the central bank, and the committee itself does not lend.

7 · Seasonal crop-credit products · medium

A farmer with a revolving credit line draws 100,000 currency units for 4 months, then keeps 50,000 of it outstanding for a further 2 months before clearing it. At 7 per cent a year simple interest, the interest payable, in currency units, is about

  1. 2,333
  2. 2,917
  3. 7,000
  4. 3,500
Answer and working

B. 2,917

Interest runs only on the drawn balance: 100,000 x 7% x 4/12 = 2,333 plus 50,000 x 7% x 2/12 = 583, total about 2,917. 7,000 charges a full year on 100,000; 2,333 ignores the last two months; 3,500 charges six months on 100,000.

8 · Seasonal crop-credit products · medium

Which is the standard working-capital product of commercial farm lenders in North America, Europe and Australia?

  1. A twenty-year mortgage over the farm's land
  2. An operating line secured on crops, stock and receivables
  3. A rotating savings association run by the farmers
  4. A long-term loan for building a grain warehouse
Answer and working

B. An operating line secured on crops, stock and receivables

Operating lines are revolving short-term facilities that finance seasonal costs and are repaid from sales. Mortgages and warehouse loans are long-term investment credit, and a rotating savings association is an informal group, not a lender's product.

9 · Interest subsidies for farm credit · easy

An interest subsidy (subvention) on farm loans is best described as

  1. A legal cap on interest rates with no compensation paid to lenders
  2. A tax charged on the interest income that banks earn from farmers
  3. The cancellation of a farmer's outstanding loan after default
  4. A state payment so lenders can charge farmers less
Answer and working

D. A state payment so lenders can charge farmers less

Subvention compensates the lender (or rebates the borrower) so that the farmer pays below the normal rate. A rate cap without compensation is a ceiling, and cancelling debt is a waiver.

10 · Priority-sector lending · medium

A bank must lend 12 per cent of its adjusted net credit of 5,000 million currency units to weaker sections and has lent 450 million to them. Its shortfall is

  1. 150 million
  2. 600 million
  3. 1,050 million
  4. 450 million
Answer and working

A. 150 million

Target = 12% x 5,000 million = 600 million; shortfall = 600 - 450 = 150 million. 600 million is the target, 450 million the achievement, and 1,050 million wrongly adds them.

Ten here, 57 in the app. The Laisha app has every practice question we have written to IBPS SO Agricultural Field Officer, CRP SPL-XVI in this subject, marked as you go, with timed papers, a jump-to-unanswered list and a certificate when you pass at 70 per cent.

Free for ten days, then one subscription of US$10 a month. We would rather say so here than have you find it later.

Practise the full set in Laisha →

Read the subject

Agricultural Finance, Credit & Rural BankingThe full study manual, free IBPS SO Agricultural Field Officer, CRP SPL-XVIFormat, sections and how it has changed

More IBPS SO Agricultural Field Officer, CRP SPL-XVI practice

Agriculture & Food Systems (bridge)Agricultural Marketing & Price AnalysisAgri Risk Management & InsuranceSector-specific Agribusiness ElectivesFarm ManagementManagement of Agricultural Input MarketingRural Development, Local Governance & LivelihoodsBusiness Statistics & Quantitative Methods

Agricultural Finance, Credit & Rural Banking for other exams

NABARD Assistant Manager Grade A · IndiaIBPS SO Agricultural Field Officer, CRP SPL-XV · IndiaICAR AICE-JRF/SRF · India

Ask Laisha about this

Opens Laisha's chat with your question ready to send. Sign in or start free.