Concept:
- Three of the four options belong to the informal sector and only one belongs to the formal sector, so the question really asks which sector suits a vulnerable borrower.
- The answer follows from what supervision does to the cost of a loan.
Step 1: Sort the four options into the two sectors.
Friends, relatives and moneylenders are all informal sources, lending without supervision. Banks are a formal source, supervised by the Reserve Bank of India.
Three of the options are therefore variations of the same thing.
Step 2: Ask what supervision changes.
The Reserve Bank of India monitors how much banks lend, to whom and at what rate, and requires them to give loans not just to profit making businesses but also to small cultivators and small borrowers.
Nobody performs this role for the informal lenders, who are free to charge what they please.
Step 3: Apply it to the situation of Swapna.
Her problem is not a shortage of lenders but the cost of borrowing. Her debt rose after one failed crop, which means the interest is eating into whatever she earns. Only a lower rate can break that cycle.
Step 4: Draw the conclusion.
A bank loan at a low supervised rate, with written terms and a repayment schedule matched to the harvest, is the only option among the four that can stop her sliding deeper into debt.
Final Answer: (D) Banks