The World Bank has approved a $600-million (approximately Rs2,451 crore) loan aimed at helping millions of poor farmers across India, saying better access to finance for India''s rural poor was "absolutely critical".

Saddled by debts they could not repay due to crop failures, thousands of the farmers across Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Maharashtra have committed suicide in recent years.

The World Bank said its offer of loan and credit was aimed at transforming farmers'' access to financial services by boosting the performance of rural co-operative banks to make them responsive to the needs of poor farmers seeking loans.

Last year, the central government had approved measures worth more than $3 billion to refinance ailing co-operative banks so that they could offer cheaper farm loans.

According to the World Bank, estimates suggested that 87 per cent of marginal farmers and 70 per cent of small farmers in India had no access to credit from a formal financial body, often relying instead on "extortionate money lenders".

"By providing small farmers with improved financial services, such as credit, savings, remittances and insurance, this project will play a significant role in helping India''s rural poor benefit from growth opportunities," the bank''s country director for India, Isabel Guerrero, said.

Although agriculture makes up just a fifth of India''s economy, two-thirds of the population make a living from the land.