Parliament Question: Financial health and audit compliance of cooperative societies

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COOPERATION RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 2099 ANSWERED ON 11.03.2026 Financial health and audit compliance of cooperative societies 2099 # Shri Jose K. Mani: Will the Minister of Cooperation be pleased to state: (a) whether Government has assessed the financial health and audit compliance of cooperative societies in the country over the last three years; (b) if so, the details of cooperative societies found irregular or non-compliant, State-wise; (c) the steps taken to strengthen transparency, professional management and digital governance in cooperatives; (d) whether any measure is being taken to improve access to institutional credit for small and primary cooperatives; and (e) if so, details thereof? ANSWER THE MINISTER OF COOPERATION (SHRI AMIT SHAH) (a) & (b) As per the National Cooperative Database (NCD), out of a total 8.48 lakh Cooperative Societies across the country, 6.59 lakh are functional, 1.41 lakh are non-functional and 47,688 are under liquidation. Among the 6.59 lakh functional cooperative societies, 5.97 lakh societies are audited and 0.62 lakh societies are not audited. The State-wise total no. of functional Cooperatives Societies, along with their audit status, is attached as Annexure-1. Further, Cooperative Societies registered under the provisions of the Multi-State Cooperative Societies (MSCS) Act, 2002 function as autonomous cooperative organisations and accountable to their members. In case of irregularities including financial embezzlement, winding up proceeding u/s 86 of the MSCS Act, 2002 are initiated against such MSCSs and liquidator is appointed under the provisions of Section 89 of MSCS Act, 2002 to liquidate the assets of Society and to ensure payment to investors/members under the provisions of section 90 of the Act. So far 106 Multi-State Cooperative Societies are put under liquidation. The state wise number of such societies is attached as Annexure-2.(c) to (e) The Ministry of Cooperation, since its inception on 6th July, 2021, has undertaken several initiatives to realize the vision of “Sahakar-se-Samriddhi” to strengthen transparency, professional management and digital governance in cooperatives. Key initiatives include: • To modernize and 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. Out of total 79,630 sanctioned PACS from 31 States/ UTs under the project, 61,478 PACS have been onboarded on ERP Software. • 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 10.89 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. • Model Byelaws of PACS, enabling diversification of activities such as storage, processing, LPG distribution, and common service centers, ensuring better governance standards and promoting member-centric operations. • World’s Largest Decentralized Grain Storage Plan in the Cooperative Sector. • Capacity building and skill development programmes through National Council for Co- operative Training (NCCT) for members, Board of Directors, employees of cooperative, state officials and aspiring youth across the country with a network of 20 training institutes. • As on date, 16,404 training programmes for 10,11,359 participants have been conducted by these training institutes across country. • Capacity-building programs undertaken through NABARD that provide training on ERP Software i.e. e-PACS software. • Establishment of Tribhuvan Sahkari University (TSU). • Amendment to the Multi State Cooperative Societies (MSCS) Act, 2002 in 2023 to strengthen governance, enhance transparency, increase accountability and reform electoral process, etc. in the Multi State Cooperative Societies by supplementing existing legislation and incorporating the provisions of Ninety-seventh Constitutional Amendment. *****Annexure-1 State-wise audit status of functional Cooperative Societies Audit Status Sl. State/UT No. Total Functional No. of Audited No. of Non-Audited Societies Societies Societies Andaman and Nicobar 1,154 1,207 1 Islands 53 2 Andhra Pradesh 12,439 12,002 437 3 Arunachal Pradesh 1,014 536 478 4 Assam 7,772 5,117 2,655 5 Bihar 22,344 19,932 2,412 6 Chandigarh 196 184 12 7 Chhattisgarh 10,245 9,365 880 8 Delhi 1,939 1,863 76 9 Goa 3,153 2,504 649 10 Gujarat 79,386 73,605 5,781 11 Haryana 15,604 13,711 1,893 12 Himachal Pradesh 4,985 4,728 257 13 Jammu & Kashmir 9,003 3,993 5,010 14 Jharkhand 8,016 7,161 855 15 Karnataka 40,368 37,946 2,422 16 Kerala 15,130 14,649 481 17 Ladakh 168 151 17 18 Lakshadweep 31 22 9 19 Madhya Pradesh 26,623 25,615 1,008 20 Maharashtra 2,19,941 2,11,717 8,224 21 Manipur 5,300 3,592 1,708 22 Meghalaya 2,975 2,441 534 23 Mizoram 1,270 1,232 38 24 Nagaland 1,830 1,526 304 25 Odisha 7,757 4,858 2,899 26 Puducherry 401 400 1 27 Punjab 11,906 11,686 220 28 Rajasthan 25,704 23,573 2,131 29 Sikkim 1,416 939 477 30 Tamil Nadu 21,240 19,454 1,786 31 Telangana 47,504 44,720 2,784 32 DNH & DD 379 170 209 33 Tripura 2,223 1,736 487 34 Uttar Pradesh 22,681 15,580 7,101 35 Uttarakhand 4,409 2,596 1,813 17,015 22,985 36 West Bengal 5,970 Total 6,59,544 5,97,473 62,071 Source: NCD portal as on 01.03.2026Annexure-2 State wise number of MSCS-under liquidation S.No. Name of State No. of MSCS-under liquidation 1 Rajasthan 26 2 Maharashtra 19 3 Delhi 16 4 Uttar Pradesh 13 5 Odisha 12 6 West Bengal 5 7 Tamil Nadu 3 8 Gujarat 2 9 Andhra Pradesh 2 10 Telangana 2 11 Bihar 1 12 Jharkhand 1 13 Karnataka 1 14 Punjab 1 15 UT of Chandigarh 1 16 UT of Dadra and Nagar Haveli 1 Total 106