We have carried out JK near-infrared photometry for the central region of the metal rich globular cluster M71, whose (K, J - K) color-magnitude diagram is presented here. Using two independent methods we derive the distance modulus to M71, 12.89 and 12.86 $pm0.12$ respectively. The former is derived using the HB luminosity $M_{Ko}$(HB) = -1.15 for globular clusters having metallicity between -1.0 to -0.3 (Kuchinski et al. 1995). The latter is derived through a comparison with IR photometry of stars in the similar metallicity cluster 47 Tuc. We also estimate the reddening to M71, E(J - K) = 0.13, based on E(B - V) = 0.04 of 47 Tuc.