Parliament Question: Strengthening Agriculture Cooperatives

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COOPERATION LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1426 TO BE ANSWERED ON 28th JULY, 2026 Strengthening Agriculture Cooperatives

1426. Shri Jai Prakash:

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

(a) whether the Government has assessed the financial viability governance standards and business performance of Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) across the country, if so, the details thereof;

(b) the number of PACS that have been computerized, diversified into new economic activities and linked with digital banking and e-governance platforms throughout the States and Union Territories; and

(c) the steps taken to enable PACS to provide integrated agricultural services including storage, processing, marketing and input supply to farmers? ANSWER MINISTER OF COOPERATION सहकारिता मंत्री (SHRI AMIT SHAH)

(a) Yes, Sir. In the backdrop of problems faced by Primary Agricultural Credit Societies

(PACS) across the country like need for transparency, augmenting income streams to strengthen their financial strength, improving governance standards, Government has taken a number of measures. To improve governance, transparency and operational efficiency of PACS, Model Bye-laws for PACS have been prepared in consultation with all stakeholders and circulated to all States/UTs. The Model Bye-laws enable PACS to undertake more than 25 business activities, improve governance through greater transparency and accountability, and make membership more inclusive with adequate representation of women and Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes. As per information available with the Ministry, 32 States/UTs have adopted the Model Bye-laws or have aligned their existing bye-laws with the Model Bye- laws.

Further, the Ministry is implementing several initiatives to improve the financial sustainability and business performance of PACS, including:

Page 1 of 4i. Computerisation of functional PACS through a common ERP-based national software; ii. Diversification of PACS into various economic activities; iii. Establishment of new Multipurpose PACS, Dairy and Fisheries Cooperative Societies in uncovered Panchayats;

iv. Convergence of various Central Government schemes for creation of agricultural infrastructure at PACS level under the world's largest grain storage initiative in the cooperative sector; and v. Integration of PACS with digital and e-Governance platforms for efficient service delivery.

(b) Government of India is implementing this Project of Computerization of functional PACS with a total financial outlay of ₹2,516 Crore which has now been increased upto 2925.39 Crore which entails bringing all the functional PACS onto an ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) based common national software, linking them with NABARD through State Cooperative Banks (StCBs) and District Central Cooperative Banks (DCCBs). The State wise progress made under the project is at Annexure-‘A’.

The status of diversified activities being carried out by PACS enabled by Model Bye-Laws are as follows (as on 15.07.2026): As on date, out of 64,159 registered PACS, 55,514 are functioning as Common Service Centres (CSCs); under the Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Kendra (PMBJK) scheme, 4,275 applications have been received from PACS, of which 4,255 have received initial approvals, 900 have obtained drug licences, 846 have been allotted store codes and 645 centres have become operational; out of 48,461 PACS functioning as fertilizer retailers, 38,974 have been upgraded as Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samriddhi Kendras

(PMKSKs); 1,480 PACS across 10 States have been selected as Water Committees, of which 118 have commenced loan recovery work; as per information provided by Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs), 394 PACS from 28 States/UTs have applied online for retail petrol/diesel outlets and 13 outlets have been commissioned. Further, 115 PACS holding wholesale consumer petrol pump licenses in 5 States have agreed to convert their outlets into retail outlets, out of which 62 retail outlets have been commissioned.

The Ministry has also initiated steps to integrate the PACS ERP system with various States’ digital and e-Governance platforms to streamline agricultural credit and service delivery. In Andhra Pradesh, PACS ERP has been integrated with e-Governance Services, Paddy Procurement, LPG, MARKFED, the IGRS Registration & Stamp Portal of the Government of Andhra Pradesh, the Public Distribution System (PDS), e-Crop and the CCLA (Chief Commissioner of Land Administration) platform; in Bihar, integration has been undertaken with the Aadhaar-enabled Public Distribution System (AePDS) and e-Sahkari; in Chhattisgarh, PACS ERP has been integrated with the Ekikrit Kisan Portal, Committee Registration Module, Khadya Portal, MARKFED, Bhuiyan Citizen UI and the Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection Department portal; in Gujarat, integration has been carried out with the Gujarat Cooperative Portal and Any ROR (Any Record of Rights) Gujarat Portal; in Madhya Pradesh, integration has been undertaken with MP Bhulekh and the Samagra Samajik Suraksha Mission;

in Rajasthan, PACS ERP has been integrated with e-Dharti, Rajasthan State Data Centre

(RSDC), Single Sign-On (SSO), ePDS, Jan Soochna Portal and RajSahakar Portal; in Uttar Page 2 of 4Pradesh, integration has been completed with the UP Bhulekh Portal and in Tamil Nadu, integration has been undertaken with the Comprehensive Audit Management System (CAMS).

(c ) Apart from diversified activities being carried out by PACS, there are various other steps also taken by Government enabling PACS to provide integrated agricultural services are as

follows:

The Government on 31.05.2023 approved the World's Largest Grain Storage Plan in Cooperative Sector. The Plan entails creation of various agri infrastructure at Primary Agriculture Credit Society (PACS) level, including warehouses, custom hiring center, processing units, Fair Price Shops, etc. through convergence of various existing schemes of the Government of India (GoI), such as, Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF), Agricultural Marketing Infrastructure Scheme (AMI), Sub Mission on Agricultural Mechanization

(SMAM), Pradhan Mantri Formalization of Micro Food Processing Enterprises Scheme

(PMFME), etc. Under the World’s Largest Grain Storage Plan in Cooperative Sector, 1,015 PACS across the country have been identified for construction of godowns and construction work has been completed in 313 PACS creating a total capacity of 1.80 LMT.

The Ministry of Cooperation has also established National Cooperative Exports Limited (NCEL) to provide market linkage to cooperative products and services in the international markets. So far, National Co-operative Exports Limited (NCEL) has exported 14,89,102 metric tonnes of 50 agri-commodities valued at ₹5,866.10 crore to 38 countries.

Similarly, National Cooperative Organics Limited (NCOL) has been established to provide market linkage to organic produce. NCOL markets the organic produce under " Bharat Organics" brand and its products are available in more than 1100 retail outlets in New Delhi and Bengaluru and on e-commerce and quick commerce platforms. To provide quality, certified and affordable seeds (input services) to farmers, Bharatiya Beej Sahkari Samiti

(BBSSL) has been establised. So far, BBSSL has produced 6,07,620 quintals of quality seeds and through its extensive cooperative network, the 'Bharat Beej' brand has reached approximately 66 lakh farmers, improving their access to quality certified seeds.

Page 3 of 4ANNEXURE-‘A’ S. No State/UTs Name Approved Hardware ERP PACS Delivered Onboarded 1 Andaman and Nicobar 46 46 46 2 Andhra Pradesh 2037 2021 2021 3 Arunachal Pradesh 139 14 14 4 Assam 850 709 581 5 Bihar 4495 4477 4482 6 Chhattisgarh 2028 2028 2028 7 Daman and Diu 9 4 4 8 Goa 86 58 55 9 Gujarat 6216 5754 5760 10 Haryana 710 710 710 11 Himachal Pradesh 1885 1789 1598 12 Jammu and Kashmir 708 537 537 13 Jharkhand 2797 1500 1491 14 Karnataka 5894 5491 4590 15 Ladakh 10 10 10 16 Madhya Pradesh 5455 4536 4536 s17 Maharashtra 12178 12000 12033 18 Manipur 308 196 214 19 Meghalaya 330 108 103 20 Mizoram 99 49 45 21 Nagaland 231 231 142 22 Odisha 4240 0 0 23 Pondicherry 45 45 44 24 Punjab 3482 3456 3454 25 Rajasthan 8525 6781 6933 26 Sikkim 131 107 107 27 Tamil Nadu 4561 4532 4481 28 Tripura 475 268 268 29 Uttar Pradesh 6257 3581 3219 30 Uttarakhand 1216 670 668 31 West Bengal 4187 4167 3512 Total 79630 65875 63686 Page 4 of 4