Computerization and Strengthening of Primary Cooperative Societies
Computerization and Strengthening of Primary Cooperative Societies
Government of India, in order to strengthen of Primary Agricultural Cooperative Societies (PACS), is implementing the Project for Computerization of functional PACS with a total financial outlay of ₹2,516 Crore, which entails bringing all the functional PACS onto an ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) based common national software, linking them with National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) through State Cooperative Banks (StCBs) and District Central Cooperative Banks (DCCBs). The ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) based common national software brings about efficiency in PACS performance through Common Accounting System (CAS) and Management Information System (MIS). So far, proposals for computerization of 67,930 PACS from 30 States/ UTs have been sanctioned, for which a total of Rs 865.81 crore have been released to States/ UTs concerned including Rs. 699.89 crore as GoI share to the States/UTs concerned and Rs 165.925 crore to NABARD being implementing agency as per the guidelines issued by Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance from time to time.
The details including the funds allocated and utilized during the last three years are attached as Annexure-I.
The details on number of primary cooperative societies that have been computerised so far and that are yet to be computerised, State-wise are attached as Annexure-II.
The Government of India has initiated a Centrally Sponsored Project to computerize functional Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) over a five-year period from 2022-23 to 2026-27. Thus, the sunset date of the project is 31.03.2027
The number of PACS officials/employees who have received training on ERP is 26,882. As per the project guidelines, there is no provision for financial support for hiring outsourced employees by PACS.
The Ministry of Cooperation, since its inception on 6th July 2021, has taken many initiatives to strengthen and deepen the cooperative movement at the grassroots level including capacity building, infrastructure development and digital literacy training for various stakeholders of the cooperative sector, such as “Model Bye-Laws for PACS making them multipurpose, multidimensional and transparent entities”, “Establishing New Multipurpose PACS/ Dairy/ Fishery Cooperatives in uncovered Panchayats”, “Pilot project for World’s Largest Decentralized Grain Storage Plan in Cooperative sector”, “Computerization of the offices of Registrar of Cooperative Societies of States/ UTs”, “Computerization of Agriculture and Rural Development Banks (ARDBs)”, “Computerization of functional Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS)”, “National Cooperative Database”, “Amendment of the Multi-State Cooperative Societies (MSCS) Act, 2002”, “Reliefs to Cooperative Societies in the Income Tax Act”, “Initiatives for revival of Cooperative Sugar Mills”, “Establishment of three new national-level multi-state cooperative societies for seed, organic products and exports”, etc. The details on all these major initiatives are attached as Annexure-III.
The Ministry of Cooperation (MoC) has adopted a multi-layered approach to evaluate the impact of computerisation at the grassroots level for ensuring effective implementation of these projects. Regular monthly review meetings are conducted with States/UTs to assess the progress of various initiatives including computerization of PACS. Key stakeholders such as NABARD, NDDB, NFDB, and others have been roped in to review the progress of various initiatives through their National, State and District level officials and machinery. National Level Monitoring and Implementation Committee (NLMIC), State and District Level Implementation and Monitoring Committees (SLIMC and DLIMC) have been formed to review especially the PACS Computerization Project. Further, State Cooperative Development Committee (SCDC) has been constituted at the State level under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary and District Cooperative Development Committee (DCDC) has been constituted at the district level under the chairmanship of the District Collectors to ensure effective implementation and monitoring of all the initiatives, including computerization of PACS of Ministry of Cooperation.
Further, NITI Aayog is evaluating the Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) in the Agriculture & Allied Sector for which letter of Award has been issued to NABCONS (NABARD Consultancy Services Private Limited) on GeM portal on 21.10.2024. The impact assessment includes “Computerization of PACS” and “Strengthening of Cooperatives through IT interventions” projects of this Ministry.
Primary Agriculture Credit Societies (PACS) constitute the lowest tier of the Short-Term Cooperative Credit Structure (STCCS) in the country, primarily providing short-term and medium-term credit facility and other input services, like seed, fertilizer, pesticide distribution, etc. to member farmers. Presently, around 13 crore farmers are linked with PACS. Being the grassroots level cooperative institutions, PACS play a crucial role in sustaining the rural economy of the country by purveying institutional credit to small and marginal farmers. Computerization of PACS project improved governance and transparency in PACS, leading to speedy disbursal of loans, lowering of transaction cost, reduction in imbalances in payments, seamless accounting with DCCBs and StCBs. It enhances trustworthiness in the working of PACS among farmers, thus contributing towards realizing the vision of “Sahakar se Samridhi”.
Annexure-I
FY 2022-23
FY 2023-24
FY 2024-25
S. No
States/UTs
Amount allocated for FY 2022-23
Amount released in FY 2022-23
Amount utilized in FY 2022-23
Amount allocated for FY 2023-24
Amount released in
Amount utilized in FY 2023-24
Amount allocated for FY 2024-25
Amount released in FY 2024-25
Amount utilized in FY 2024-25
FY 2023-24
1.
Maharashtra
87.95
87.95
0
134.58
33.65
71.88
27.81
0
2.58
2.
Rajasthan
23.78
23.78
0
78.06
43.3
44.05
52.42
0
10.15
3.
Gujarat
0
0
0
106.7
58.3
7.39
44.37
22.19
46.96
4.
Uttar Pradesh
11.28
11.28
0
43.87
42.3
24.1
50.88
0
10.92
5.
Karnataka
40.25
40.25
0
61.58
15.39
36.67
21.17
0
1.21
6.
Madhya Pradesh
33.23
33.23
0
50.85
25.42
43.47
0
0
5.78
7.
Tamil Nadu
33.2
33.2
0
49.84
12.48
25.78
24.95
0
3.45
8.
Bihar
32.95
32.95
0
50.41
0
4.48
29.32
0
28.47
9.
West Bengal
30.54
30.54
0
46.73
0
6.45
40.49
0
6.35
10.
Punjab
25.52
25.52
0
39.05
0
10.2
13.32
0
7.06
11.
Andhra Pradesh
14.93
14.93
0
22.84
3.74
0
18.12
0
13.04
12.
Chhattisgarh
14.86
14.86
0
22.75
0
4.51
20.41
10.21
10.45
13.
Himachal Pradesh
9.56
9.56
0
14.64
7.32
13.13
6.18
0
3.05
14.
Jharkhand
10.99
10.99
0
16.83
0
5.45
15.1
7.55
5.55
15.
Haryana
4.85
4.85
0
8.33
2.44
0
3
0
6.9
16.
Uttarakhand
0
0
0
0
3.69
0
7.03
0
0.12
17.
Assam
6.41
6.41
0
9.81
2.45
6.41
6.6
3.3
2.27
18.
J&K
5.25
5.25
0
8.03
1.52
5.25
3.71
1.85
1.52
19.
Tripura
2.95
2.95
0
4.5
1.13
3.55
3.03
1.52
2.04
20.
Manipur
2.55
2.55
0
3.9
0
0
3.86
0
0.11
21.
Nagaland
0.36
0.36
0
0.56
2.46
0.64
3.2
0
1.64
22.
Meghalaya
1.23
1.23
0
1.13
0
1.03
1.97
0
0.23
23.
Sikkim
1.18
1.18
0
1.8
0.9
1.59
0.79
0
0.31
24.
Goa
0.32
0.32
0
0.5
0.13
0.3
0.44
0
0.12
25.
ANI
0
0
0
1.33
0.69
0
0.84
0
0.62
26.
Puducherry
0.44
0.44
0
0.67
0.17
0.41
0.29
0
0
27.
Mizoram
0.27
0.27
0
0.43
0
0.21
0.44
0.44
0.06
28.
Arunachal Pradesh
0.15
0.15
0
0.24
0.12
0.21
0.09
0
0.05
29.
Ladakh
0
0
0
0.31
0.12
0.12
0.04
0
0
30.
DNH&DD
0
0
0
0
0
0
0.12
0.12
0
31.
NABARD
100
100
0
187.97
40.91
96.16
100
25
33.48
Total
495
495
0
968.24
298.62
413.42
500
72.18
204.5
Annexure-II
Status of Computerization of PACS (as on 21.11.2024)
S. No
States
PACS selected for Computerization
PACS tendered for Hardware
Digitization of records (DCT)Completed
PACS Computerized as on 21.11.24
PACS yet to be onboarded on ERP
Maharashtra
12,000
12,000
11,631
9,161
2,839
Rajasthan
6,781
5,492
3,834
3,025
3,756
Gujarat
5,754
5,754
5,423
3,838
1,916
Uttar Pradesh
5,686
3,062
2,949
2,505
3,181
Karnataka
5,491
5,491
4,046
487
5,004
Madhya Pradesh
4,536
4,534
4,531
4,524
12
Tamil Nadu
4,532
4,532
4,530
4,494
38
Bihar
4,495
4,477
4,345
4,043
452
West Bengal
4,167
4,167
521
148
4,019
Punjab
3,482
3,482
1,973
1,580
1,902
Andhra Pradesh
2,037
2,037
30
30
2,007
Chhattisgarh
2,028
2,028
2,028
2,019
9
Himachal Pradesh
1,789
870
865
829
960
Jharkhand
1,500
1,500
1,435
1,403
97
Haryana
710
710
703
687
23
Uttarakhand
670
670
185
185
485
Assam
583
583
579
567
16
J&K
537
537
533
532
5
Tripura
268
268
254
247
21
Manipur
232
232
50
23
209
Nagaland
231
231
33
33
198
Meghalaya
112
112
108
108
4
Sikkim
107
107
106
104
3
Goa
58
58
37
32
26
ANI
46
46
46
44
2
Puducherry
45
45
42
31
14
Mizoram
25
25
25
25
0
Arunachal Pradesh
14
14
14
14
0
Ladakh
10
10
10
9
1
DNH&DD
4
–
–
0
4
Total
67,930
63,074
50,866
40,727
27,203
ANNEXURE -III
Progress on major initiatives taken by Ministry of Cooperation
Ministry of Cooperation, since its inception on 6th July, 2021, has undertaken several initiatives to realize the vision of “Sahakar-se-Samriddhi” and to strengthen & deepen the cooperative movement from Primary to Apex level Cooperatives in the country. List of initiatives taken and progress made so far are as follows:
This was stated by the Minister of Cooperation, Shri Amit Shah in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha.