This paper explores the association between informal credit dependence, household decision making, and livelihood risks based on the survey data from 500 female agricultural labourers of Kangra and Una district in HP in the year 2022-23. It stems from the doctoral field survey and addresses the aspects of management not separated out in the broader thesis—rental regularity, indebtedness, financial institution choice, and household decision-making power and paid-unpaid work mix. The respondents were put into three categories, "landless workers" (335), "1-30 acres" (92) and "31-50 acres" (73). These methods were used: Frequencies, Percentages and Chi-square Test. The results indicate that 85.0 per cent earned in between Rs. 2,001 and Rs. The 64.0 per cent of those indebteded had a debt up to Rs. 6,000 per month. 5,000. Most important of all, 79.0 per cent borrowed from moneylenders and/or private sources of finance – albeit the latter enjoyed digital banks as a secondary source of finance – versus just 20.8 per cent from a source of cooperative or nationalised banks. There was no marked difference by source of credit among the different land-access segments, suggesting that inability to access credit is not just a problem for the landless, but that it is a generally shared constraint. The same level of limitation was found in the case of household agency; 73.8 per cent of the respondents indicated that men or elders were in charge of important decision making, and 78.6 per cent reported doing household work without male help. Higher levels of reliance on borrowing due to low wages, delayed pay and extended seasonal joblessness. The researchers end by arguing that owning an account and having some access to the land is not an adequate measure of financial inclusion and empowerment. Rural-management policy needs to take lessons from the timely payment of wages, provision of affordable credit by institutional lenders, cash-flow-sensitive loan products, engaging in off-season work, and providing financial advising and support to women gaining more autonomy in financial decision-making within the household.