Parliament Question: Cooperative societies and farmers funding

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COOPERATION RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2092 ANSWERED ON 11.03.2026 Cooperative societies and farmers funding 2092 Shri I.S. Inbadurai: Will the Minister of Cooperation be pleased to state: (a) whether Government has reviewed the role of cooperative societies in providing agricultural credit to farmers, if so, the details thereof and outcomes assessed; (b) whether Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACSs) are adequately functioning across States to support farmers’ financial needs, if so, State-wise details thereof; (c) whether disparities exist in access to cooperative credit among small and marginal farmers, if so, the reasons therefor and corrective measures undertaken; and (d) whether the Ministry has undertaken modernization and computerisation of cooperative societies, if so, the progress achieved and timeline for nationwide completion? ANSWER THE MINISTER OF COOPERATION (SHRI AMIT SHAH) (a) & (b) Ministry of Cooperation (MoC) has adopted a multi-layered approach to monitor cooperative societies at the grassroots level for ensuring effective implementation, coordination and accountability in states. For this purpose, committees have been constituted at various levels, from the national level to the district level. These include: i. Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) – Chaired by the Hon’ble Minister of Home Affairs & Cooperation; ii. National Level Coordination Committee (NLCC) – Chaired by the Secretary, Ministry of Cooperation; iii. State Cooperative Development Committee (SCDC) – Chaired by the Chief Secretary of the respective State/UT; and iv. District Cooperative Development Committee (DCDC) – Chaired by the District Collector of the respective district.In addition, State/ Uts have been facilitated to review the performance using the comprehensive National Cooperative Database (NCD) developed by Ministry of Cooperation, Government of India, with the support of State/UT Governments, through the ranking parameters.The progress is also reviewed during the field visits of the MOS and different Officers of the Ministry. Further, institutions such as NABARD, NCDC, and other cooperative federations provide technical, financial, and operational support while also monitoring progress related to credit flow, infrastructure development, and project implementation. As per NCD, as on 20.01.2026, a total of 1,11,503 Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) in present the country; 1,06,197 are functional; 3,851 are non-functional/dormant; 1,455 are under liquidation and 13,383 Gram Panchayats are yet to be covered by Primary Agricultural Credit Societies. The details are at Annexure-I. (c) Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) constitute the lowest tier of the three- tier short term cooperative credit (STCC) structure in the country and play a significant role in transforming the agricultural and rural landscape of Indian economy through credit facility by linkage with District Central Cooperative Bank, State Cooperative Bank and NABARD. In this regard, the Government of India has approved the plan to establish new multipurpose PACS/DCS/FCS with the aim to cover gap in the coverage in all panchayats and villages in the country over the next five years. The State/UT-wise number of PACS and the agricultural credit disbursed to farmers during FY 2024-25 is provided in Annexure-II. Cooperative Banks extended ₹1,62,556 crore in loans to Small and Marginal Farmers (SF/MF) in FY 2024-25, accounting for 63% of their total agricultural credit disbursement of ₹2,57,687 crore, underscoring their significant contribution to supporting SF/MF. Additionally, the Government has taken steps to increase the institutional credit flow to under served agricultural segments such as Small and Marginal Farmers by way of: i. Sub-Target under Priority Sector Lending (PSL) Guidelines of RBI for lending to Small and Marginal Farmers: Under the overall PSL target of 18% applicable for lending to agriculture by commercial banks, a sub target of 10% has been fixed for lending to small and marginal farmers (i.e. at least 56% of total agriculture credit must go to small and marginal farmers). ii. Enhancement in limit of Collateral free agricultural loans: the limit for collateral free agricultural loans has been raised from ₹1.6 lakh to ₹2 lakh per borrower. Banks have been advised to waive collateral security and margin requirements for agricultural loans upto ₹2 lakh per borrower. This will enhance coverage of small and marginal farmers in the formal credit system. iii. Central Sector Scheme for Formation and Promotion of 10,000 Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs): FPOs help in collectivization of small, marginal and landless farmers in order to give them the collective strength to deal with issues including access to formal credit sources. Members of the FPO manage their activities together in theorganization to get better access to technology, input, finance and market for faster enhancement of their income. GoI is implementing a Central Sector Scheme for “Formation and Promotion of 10,000 Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs)” with a budget outlay of ₹6,865 crore till 2027-28. Under this Scheme, a Credit Guarantee Fund for FPOs with a corpus of ₹ 1000 crore with equal contribution from GoI and NABARD has been setup with GoI as the Settlor and NABSanrakshan as the Trustee. The Credit Guarantee Scheme for FPO Financing has been operationalised for this purpose. (d) With the aim to strengthen PACS, a project for the Computerization of functional PACS with a total financial outlay of ₹2925.39 Crore has been approved by the Government of India, which entails bringing all functional PACS in the Country onto a common ERP-based national software, linking them with National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) through StCBs and DCCBs. A total of 79,630 PACS from 31 States/ UTs have been sanctioned under the project. A total of 61,025 PACS have been onboarded on Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Software, and hardware has been procured by 30 States/UTs. Also, to strengthen the long-term cooperative credit structure, the project of computerization of 1,867 units of Agriculture and Rural Development Banks (ARDBs) spread across 13 States/ Union Territories has been approved by the Government. NABARD is the implementing agency for the project. So far, proposals from 10 States/UTs have been received and sanctioned. Further, GOI share amounting to Rs 10.11 crore has been released to 10 States/UTs in FY 2023-24, FY 24-25, and FY 2025-26 for procurement of hardware, digitization, and setting up of support system. The State-wise allocation details in both the projects are attached as Annexure III. ****Annexure-I Non- Total Under Total PACS State Functional Functional / PACS Liquidation Membership Dormant Andaman And Nicobar Islands 47 47 0 0 14930 Andhra Pradesh 2062 2043 16 3 5369439 Arunachal Pradesh 165 162 3 0 19339 Assam 2046 1291 380 375 2323521 Bihar 8500 8500 0 0 13778074 Chandigarh 17 4 10 3 2742 Chhattisgarh 2525 2505 20 0 3500250 Goa 161 137 8 16 259654 Gujarat 11027 10472 303 252 3436851 Haryana 815 815 0 0 2907023 Himachal Pradesh 2307 2214 51 42 1376729 Jammu And Kashmir 809 753 55 1 272107 Jharkhand 4459 4458 1 0 1695244 Karnataka 6326 6170 34 122 7956123 Kerala 1709 1647 29 33 30528321 Ladakh 163 129 34 0 16831 Madhya Pradesh 5207 5184 21 2 5721895 Maharashtra 21196 21152 2 42 12270322 Manipur 356 329 27 0 73335 Meghalaya 817 746 71 0 162015 Mizoram 163 155 7 1 10096 Nagaland 1400 672 728 0 33966 Odisha 4260 4145 114 1 8299498 Puducherry 61 53 8 0 75796 Punjab 3951 3511 30 410 2306206 Rajasthan 9022 9007 4 11 7507272 Sikkim 201 199 2 0 34147 Tamil Nadu 4533 4530 1 2 10645032 Telangana 909 908 0 1 2904180 The Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu 20 18 1 1 11264 Tripura 559 559 0 0 402338 Uttar Pradesh 8662 7830 797 35 10981984 Uttarakhand 1294 1004 289 1 1216692 West Bengal 5754 4848 805 101 4793714 Total 1,11,503 1,06,197 3,851 1,455 14,09,06,930Annexure-II State/UT-wise Agricultural Credit Through Cooperatives during FY 2024-25 (Amount in ₹ crore) Sr. No. of PACS/ Agricultural Credit State/UT No LAMPS/FSS Through Cooperatives 1 Andaman And Nicobar Islands 47 8 2 Andhra Pradesh 2,062 21,145 3 Arunachal Pradesh 175 14 4 Assam 2,076 99 5 Bihar 8,500 9,444 6 Chandigarh 17 - 7 Chhattisgarh 2,524 7,950 8 Delhi - - 9 Goa 162 35 10 Gujarat 11,053 23,740 11 Haryana 819 12,661 12 Himachal Pradesh 2,314 2,929 13 Jammu And Kashmir 820 6 14 Jharkhand 4,459 10 15 Karnataka 6,338 24,848 16 Kerala 1,709 7,866 17 Ladakh 163 1 18 Lakshadweep - - 19 Madhya Pradesh 5,209 21,495.00 20 Maharashtra 21,258 25,187.00 21 Manipur 356 8.00 22 Meghalaya 831 28.00 23 Mizoram 162 19.00 24 Nagaland 1,385 40.00 25 Odisha 4,259 19,372.00 26 Puducherry 61 1.00 27 Punjab 4,023 10,148.00 28 Rajasthan 9,149 23,842.00 29 Sikkim 201 24.00 30 Tamil Nadu 4,533 19,117.00 31 Telangana 909 6,289.00 The Dadra and Nagar Haveli and 32 19 2.00 Daman and Diu 33 Tripura 561 424.00 34 Uttar Pradesh 8,804 11,927.00 35 Uttarakhand 1,294 3,183.00 36 West Bengal 5,753 5,823.00 Total 1,12,005 2,57,687.00Annexure-III PACS Computerization Total Total ERP amount Sanctioned ERP Go Day End Audit released in S. No State/UTs PACS Onboarded Live Completed Completed Cr. 1 Maharashtra 12178 12028 12011 12000 11949 130.73 2 Bihar 4495 4478 4475 4471 4364 51.76 3 Gujarat 6216 5705 5575 5458 4724 93.97 4 Andhra Pradesh 2037 2021 2021 2017 2016 37.41 5 Chhattisgarh 2028 2028 2028 2028 1975 28.35 6 Rajasthan 8525 6157 6153 5860 3828 84.83 7 Jharkhand 2797 1479 1491 1461 1378 34.30 8 Punjab 3482 3172 2760 2385 786 32.94 9 Madhya Pradesh 5455 4532 4524 4530 4492 66.43 10 J&K 708 537 537 537 537 10.37 11 Himachal Pradesh 1885 1376 1234 1210 608 28.25 12 Haryana 710 624 580 568 454 8.79 13 Uttar Pradesh 6257 3061 3052 2922 2110 67.10 14 Karnataka 5894 4337 3690 3606 3252 67.83 15 Assam 850 577 576 569 566 17.02 16 Tripura 475 267 247 262 197 8.21 17 Sikkim 131 107 107 107 105 3.28 18 Goa 86 51 46 41 37 1.19 19 Puducherry 45 45 45 45 30 0.67 20 ANI 46 46 46 46 46 0.69 21 Mizoram 99 25 25 25 24 1.27 22 Ladakh 10 10 10 10 10 0.12 23 Nagaland 231 102 67 53 17 4.43 24 DNH & DD 9 4 4 4 4 0.12 25 Arunachal Pradesh 139 13 13 13 13 1.22 26 Uttarakhand 1216 669 668 589 469 5.69 27 Manipur 308 199 195 196 128 3.14 28 Meghalaya 330 11 9 10 4 2.34 29 Tamil Nadu 4561 4509 4508 4509 529 51.73 30 West Bengal 4187 3308 3145 2874 208 45.79 31 Odisha 4240 0 0 0 0 18.07 Grand Total 79630 61478 59842 58406 44860 908.06ARDB Computerization Total Hardware Hardware Total Fund released S.No. State Total ARDBs Target to Delivered (Cr.) be Delivered 1 Gujarat 195 440 440 0.82 2 Haryana 90 203 0 0.76 3 Himachal Pradesh 88 202 202 1.04 4 Rajasthan 163 351 351 1.14 5 Punjab 113 272 0 0.94 6 Karnataka 207 467 467 1.28 7 Tamil Nadu 216 477 471 1.96 8 Puducherry 2 17 4 0.11 9 Tripura 6 15 5 0.04 10 Uttar Pradesh 342 740 0 1.75 11 Jammu & Kashmir 51 115 0 0.3 Total 1473 3299 1940 10.14 J &K has opted out of the Project.