Primary Agricultural Credit Societies

(a) The Government of India has approved the plan to establish new multipurpose PACS/dairy/fisheries cooperatives, aiming to cover all panchayats and villages in the country over the next five years. As per the National Cooperative Database, a total of 32,802 new PACS, Dairy and Fishery Cooperative Societies have been registered; and 15,793 Dairy and Fisheries Cooperative Societies have been strengthened as on 20.01.2026 across the country.  Independent or third-party evaluation of the newly formed multipurpose Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS), dairy and fisheries cooperatives have not been contemplated, yet.

(b) The Government undertakes State-wise and regional analysis using the National Cooperative Database (NCD) to identify gaps in cooperative coverage, including aspirational districts and underserved regions. The details of State-wise distribution 32,802 new PACS, Dairy and Fishery Cooperative Societies including aspirational districts and backward regions and Maharashtra and Jalgaon district is at Annexure.

(c)  As on date, out of 79,630 PACS sanctioned out of which 61,478 PACS have been digitized and have been facilitated to undertake initiatives such as Shared Core Banking Solutions (CBS), AePS, UPI, and digital platforms for cooperative banking have also been rolled out to modernise cooperative financial services.

(d) and (e) The Model Bye-laws for Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) have been developed and circulated to all States and Union Territories to transform PACS into multipurpose, inclusive and transparent institutions. These Bye-laws provide for broad-based membership and ensure adequate representation of women and Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes (SC/ST) in cooperative governance. Further, the Multi-State Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Act, 2023 mandates reservation of two seats for women and one seat for SC/ST members on the boards of multi-State cooperative societies. The National Cooperation Policy (NCP) 2025 also emphasizes promotion of membership and leadership roles for women and weaker sections.

The Model Bye-laws enable PACS to function as multipurpose service centres, allowing small and marginal farmers to access affordable credit, quality inputs and allied services at a single point, and to benefit from activities such as warehousing, custom hiring centres and primary processing, thereby improving income realization. Support for women and SHGs is further strengthened through schemes such as Swayam Shakti Sahakar Yojana for onward lending to Women SHGs and Nandini Sahakar for promoting women-led cooperatives. As of late 2025, 32 States and Union Territories have adopted or aligned their laws with the Model Bye-laws.

Implementation in Maharashtra, including Jalgaon District:

In Maharashtra, 12,178 PACS have been sanctioned for computerization and ₹130.73 crore has been released for hardware procurement, ERP deployment, training and support systems. All 352 sanctioned PACS in Jalgaon district have been fully onboarded on the ERP-based common national software, achieving 100% digitization. Extensive capacity-building efforts are being undertaken through national and regional training institutions, including VAMNICOM (Pune) and ICM (Nagpur and Pune), which trained 37,070 participants between 2024 and December 2025. Additionally, the Regional Training Centre of LINAC in Maharashtra conducted 65 training programmes during April 2022–December 2025, covering 5,693 participants.

Financial support is being extended through the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC). As on 25.01.2026, NCDC has cumulatively disbursed ₹13,575.28 crore to cooperatives in Maharashtra over the last five years, including ₹13,186.58 crore in the sugar sector, ₹180.28 crore in textiles, and ₹43.57 crore in fisheries. Further, the Jalgaon Milk Union has proposed formation of 117 new Dairy Cooperative Societies during 2025–26 to enhance farmer participation. District-level initiatives, including livestock health programmes under the International Year of Cooperatives (IYC) 2025, have been undertaken to support members. Under the World’s Largest Grain Storage Plan, 15 PACS in Maharashtra have completed godown construction, helping farmers avoid distress sales and improve price realization.

(f)  In Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka, 121 PACS, 420 Dairy Cooperative Societies (DCS), and 22 Fishery Cooperative Societies (FCS) are established, out of which only one FCS is non-operational and digitisation of all the PACS has been initiated.

Annexure

This information was given by Union Minister for Home and Cooperation Shri Amit Shah in a written reply in Lok Sabha.