This examination of the asset strategies of landless agricultural labourers in Coimbatore district, Tamil Nadu, supports the view that it is not so much lack of finance as lack of incentives that limits poor people's investments. The options for landless agricultural labourers include changing patterns of consumption, labour strategies, and ‘investment’ strategies (broadly defined). Different groups make very different choices from among these options. Anti‐poverty programmes in India will continue to fail as far as landless agricultural labourers are concerned until they tackle the real problems that prevent the poor from acquiring more assets.