This brief overview of rural credit in 20th century India finds a remarkable continuity in the problems faced by the poor throughout this period. These include dependence on usurious moneylenders and the operation of a deeply exploitative grid of interlocked, imperfect markets. We articulate the theoretical and historical case for nationalisation of banks and provide evidence of its positive impact on rural credit and development. Certain excesses led to reforms unleashed in the 1990s. This did increase bank profitability but at the cost of the poor and of backward regions. While the MFI model of microfinance is unsustainable, the SHG-Bank Linkage approach can make a positive impact on security and empowerment of the disadvantaged. Much more than microfinance is needed to overcome the problems that have persisted over the last 100 years.