Parliament Question: PACS

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COOPERATION LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 2610 TO BE ANSWERED ON 04th AUGUST, 2026 PACS

2610. Dr. Manna Lal Rawat:

Will the Minister of COOPERATION (सहकारिता मंत्री) be pleased to state:

(a) the number of Gram Panchayats where Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS), dairy, or fishery cooperative societies are registered in the country;

(b) whether Primary Agricultural Credit Society/cooperative society has been set up in all Gram Panchayats, if so, the details thereof in respect of Rajasthan, State and district-wise;

(c) whether these PACS are also undertaking activities such as Common Service Centres (CSCe), Jan Aushadhi Kendras, petrol pumps, LPG distribution, maintenance of the "Har Ghar Nal Se Jal" scheme, godown operations, and railway ticket booking in addition to short-term agricultural finance in the cooperative sector;

(d) the steps taken by the Government for the computerization of these operations so far;

(e) whether PACS are also being developed as centres for delivery of citizen services such as death and birth certificates; and

(f) whether cooperative societies are being granted exemptions from surcharge under the Income Tax laws, if so, the details thereof? ANSWER THE MINISTER OF COOPERATION सहकारिता मंत्री (SHRI AMIT SHAH)

(a) As per the National Cooperative Database, as on 15.07.2026, out of 2,71,110 Gram Panchayats (GPs) across the country, 2,59,515 GPs (95.72%) are covered by Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS), Dairy Cooperatives, or Fishery Cooperatives.

Page 1 of 5(b) Yes, Sir. As per the National Cooperative Database (NCD), as on 15.07.2026, 2,64,656 (97.62%) out of 2,71,110 Gram Panchayats (GPs) across the country are covered by one or more cooperative societies. In Rajasthan, 11,436 (99.94%) out of 11,442 GPs are covered by one or more cooperative societies. The State-wise and district-wise details for Rajasthan are attached at Annexure-1 and Annexure-2, respectively.

(c) The Government has circulated Model Bye-laws for PACS to all States/UTs, enabling PACS to undertake more than 25 business activities and improve governance, transparency and accountability. PACS have been enabled to provide over 300 e-services as Common Service Centres (CSCs), including banking, insurance, Aadhaar enrolment/updation, health services, PAN card services and IRCTC/Bus/Air ticket booking. As on 15.07.2026, 55,514 PACS are functioning as CSCs. PACS have also been permitted to operate Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Kendras (PMBJKs), retail petrol/diesel outlets and LPG distributorships, and to undertake the Operation and Maintenance (O&M) of rural piped water supply schemes at the Panchayat/Village level. Further, under the World's Largest Grain Storage Plan in the Cooperative Sector, PACS are developed with warehouses, custom hiring centres, primary processing units and other agricultural infrastructure.

(d) To strengthen PACS, the Government launched the centrally sponsored Project for Computerization of PACS in 2022. The project aims to bring all functional PACS, including PACS in Rajasthan, onto a common ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) based national software.

Initially, 63,000 PACS were approved under the project with a financial outlay of ₹2,516 crore.

The project has since been expanded to cover 79,630 PACS with a revised outlay of ₹2,925.39 crore.

(e) Yes Sir. PACS have been enabled to provide more than 300 e-services as Common Service Centres (CSCs), including services relating to birth and death certificates.

(f) Yes, Sir. The surcharge applicable to cooperative societies having a total income exceeding ₹1 crore but not exceeding ₹10 crore has been reduced from 12% to 7% under the Income Tax Act. This reduction is aimed at reducing the tax burden on such cooperative societies and enabling them to retain more funds for the benefit of their members.

***** Page 2 of 5Annexure-1 State-wise details of coverage of Gram Panchayats (GPs) by cooperative societies S. No State/UT Total GP Covered GPs 1 Andaman And Nicobar Islands 264 150 2 Andhra Pradesh 13,367 12,804 3 Arunachal Pradesh 2,108 1,226 4 Assam 2,714 2,691 5 Bihar 8,329 8,326 6 Chhattisgarh 11,719 11,703 7 Goa 191 191 8 Gujarat 14,859 14,618 9 Haryana 6,693 6,693 10 Himachal Pradesh 3,615 3,608 11 Jammu And Kashmir 4,291 4,186 12 Jharkhand 4,372 4,368 13 Karnataka 5,966 5,962 14 Kerala 941 941 15 Ladakh 193 158 16 Lakshadweep 15 14 17 Madhya Pradesh 23,071 23,058 18 Maharashtra 28,080 27,699 19 Manipur 3,184 2,401 20 Meghalaya 7,056 5,762 21 Mizoram 856 430 22 Nagaland 1,321 990 23 Odisha 6,802 6,772 24 Puducherry 108 107 25 Punjab 13,250 12,954 26 Rajasthan 11,442 11,436 27 Sikkim 199 199 28 Tamil Nadu 12,521 12,140 29 Telangana 12,944 12,682 30 DNH &DD 38 34 31 Tripura 1,194 1,160 32 Uttarakhand 7,862 7,843 33 Uttar Pradesh 58,205 58,013 34 West Bengal 3,340 3,337 Total 2,71,110 2,64,656

Source: NCD portal as of 15.07.2026.

Page 3 of 5Annexure-2 District-wise details of coverage of GPs by cooperative societies in Rajasthan S. No District Total GPs Covered GPs 1 Ajmer 272 241 2 Alwar 317 306 3 Balotra 362 293 4 Banswara 417 417 5 Baran 232 232 6 Barmer 543 531 7 Beawar 219 163 8 Bharatpur 220 218 9 Bhilwara 397 396 10 Bikaner 366 366 11 Bundi 184 184 12 Chittorgarh 299 299 13 Churu 304 304 14 Dausa 284 284 15 Deeg 184 184 16 Dholpur 188 188 17 Didwana-Kuchaman 236 236 18 Dungarpur 353 353 19 Ganganagar 346 344 20 Hanumangarh 269 268 21 Jaipur 556 525 22 Jaisalmer 206 183 23 Jalore 307 302 24 Jhalawar 254 254 25 Jhunjhunu 337 336 26 Jodhpur 422 416 27 Karauli 241 241 28 Khairthal-Tijara 153 152 29 Kota 156 156 30 Kotputli-Behror 206 204 31 Nagaur 262 262 32 Pali 264 263 33 Phalodi 234 232 34 Pratapgarh 234 234 35 Rajsamand 214 214 Page 4 of 5S. No District Total GPs Covered GPs 36 Salumbar 158 157 37 Sawai Madhopur 226 221 38 Sikar 373 372 39 Sirohi 171 170 40 Tonk 236 236 41 Udaipur 499 499 Total 11,701* 11,436

Source: NCD portal as of 15.07.2026. *Note:-The total number of Gram Panchayats (GPs) may vary, as 259 GPs are common to more than one district in Rajasthan and have been counted under the respective districts.

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