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The Ministry of Cooperation told the Rajya Sabha that 63,686 PACS are onboarded on the ERP-based national software and 54,707 have been declared e-PACS.
The PACS computerisation outlay has been raised from Rs 2,516 crore to Rs 2,925.39 crore.
The National Cooperative Database now covers about 8.6 lakh cooperatives from 30 sectors with roughly 32 crore members; NCD Portal 3.0 was launched on 6 July 2026.
Bharat Taxi, run by Sahakar Taxi Cooperative Limited on a zero-commission model, has 8.48 lakh registered drivers and 44.27 lakh customers.
BBSSL has introduced 124 varieties across 18 crops under the 'Bharat Beej' brand and produced 75,535 tonnes of seed in 2025-26.
Bring every functional PACS onto a common ERP-based national software and link them to NABARD through State Cooperative Banks and District Central Cooperative Banks
Key: A Centrally Sponsored Project whose outlay has been raised from Rs 2,516 crore to Rs 2,925.39 crore. The software has 22 ERP modules, is CAS-MIS compliant, runs on secure centralised cloud storage, supports maker-checker controls and on-system audit, works in 20 languages and allows State-specific customisation
Build a single authoritative dataset of India's cooperatives for policy making
Key: Launched on 8 March 2024; covers about 8.6 lakh cooperatives from 30 sectors with roughly 32 crore members. NCD Portal 3.0, launched on 6 July 2026, adds OTP-based secure login, society-level dashboards, an AI chatbot, village-level GIS mapping, Bhashini-based multilingual support and API integration with State RCS portals
Rank primary cooperative societies sector-wise and State, district and block-wise to drive competition and best-practice diffusion
Key: Launched 24 January 2025; RCS offices generate rankings for 12 sectors — PACS, dairy, fishery, urban cooperative banks, housing, credit and thrift, khadi and gram udyog, agro-processing/industrial, handicraft, handloom, textile and weavers, multipurpose and sugar — scored out of 100 on audit compliance, operational activities, financial performance, infrastructure and basic identity information
Offer a cooperative-owned alternative to commercial ride-hailing platforms
Key: Operated by Sahakar Taxi Cooperative Limited, a multi-state cooperative society registered under the Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act, 2002. Runs a zero-commission model for drivers with subscription-based participation, transparent fares, and insurance and welfare linkages. Launched in Delhi-NCR, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan; no government financial support has been provided for its expansion
Build a farmer-centric, cooperative-led seed system and cut dependence on imported seed
Key: Set up under the Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act, 2002 as an apex organisation for seed production, procurement, processing, branding, storage, marketing and R&D. Has introduced 124 varieties across 18 crops under 'Bharat Beej', produced 75,535 tonnes of seed in 2025-26, and runs an indigenous-variety conservation programme in Uttarakhand
Aggregate, certify and market organic produce through the cooperative network
Key: Markets under the 'Bharat Organics' brand through e-commerce, modern retail, cooperative outlets including Safal/Mother Dairy, NAFED and NCCF, and a direct-to-consumer portal. Products must conform to National Programme for Organic Production standards and undergo mandatory laboratory testing for pesticide residues. NCOL has MoUs with 28 States/UTs and forms NPOP-certified Internal Control System groups
Create India's first national university dedicated to cooperative education and training
Key: Established in 2025 at Anand, Gujarat under the Ministry of Cooperation, built on the Institute of Rural Management Anand. Launched three MBA programmes in 2025-26 — Cooperative Management, Cooperative Banking and Finance, and Agribusiness Management — and has designed five certificate courses for PACS staff, primary fisheries and dairy cooperative staff, DCCB boards and cybersecurity for cooperative banks, scheduled for 2026-27
Provide shared technology and umbrella support to cooperative banks
Key: Sahakar Sarathi (Shared Service Entity) Private Limited, approved by the RBI, supplies technology services to Rural Cooperative Banks and has launched 13 services. The National Urban Cooperative Finance and Development Corporation is the RBI-approved Umbrella Organisation for around 1,500 Urban Cooperative Banks and runs Digi Loan and Digi Pay
Make governance in rural cooperative banks measurable rather than qualitative
Key: Developed by NABARD to benchmark governance in State Cooperative Banks and District Central Cooperative Banks; the CGI portal went live on 1 April 2026. NABARD has also introduced an Enhanced CAMELSC Framework as a step towards risk-based supervision, with the SuperSoft digital supervisory platform and 26 model policies under development
The law under which multi-state cooperatives such as Sahakar Taxi Cooperative Limited, BBSSL and NCOL are registered; the Office of the Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies has been computerised to enable online registration and bye-law amendment under it
Inserted Part IX-B (Articles 243ZH to 243ZT) on incorporation, elections, governance and management of cooperative societies, made forming cooperative societies a fundamental right under Article 19(1)(c), and added Article 43B as a Directive Principle; it received assent on 12 January 2012 and came into force on 15 February 2012
Cooperative societies are a State subject, which is why the Registrar of Cooperative Societies sits with the States and why the Centre works through Centrally Sponsored Projects and advisories rather than direct regulation
India's organic certification benchmark, notified by the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) and launched in 2001; NCOL markets only NPOP-compliant produce
Removed the earlier Gross NPA below 7% and Net NPA below 3% and net profit criteria for cooperative banks offering modern banking services; allowed StCBs and DCCBs to open up to 10 new branches through an automatic route; and issued Eligibility Criteria norms for Business Authorisation superseding the FSWM provisions
Rural cooperative banks were brought within the Integrated Ombudsman Scheme, extending the grievance redress framework to them
Nodal ministry for the cooperative sector, created by carving out cooperation-related entries from the erstwhile Ministry of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare
The village-level bottom tier of the three-tier short-term cooperative credit structure, providing crop loans, deposits, input supply and now Common Service Centre services
Apex refinance and supervisory institution for rural cooperative credit; implementing agency for ARDB computerisation, developer of the Cooperative Governance Index and the Enhanced CAMELSC Framework, and the body linking ePACS to the Krishi Rin Portal
State RCS offices register and regulate cooperatives within a State and generate the sector rankings; the Central Registrar handles multi-state cooperative societies
RBI-approved Umbrella Organisation for the Urban Cooperative Bank sector, providing IT infrastructure and operational support to around 1,500 UCBs
India's first national cooperative university, offering MBA and certificate programmes for cooperative professionals
Notifies and administers the National Programme for Organic Production, the certification benchmark NCOL's Bharat Organics products must meet
India's short-term cooperative credit system is a pyramid. At the village level sit Primary Agricultural Credit Societies, member-owned bodies that take deposits and lend for crops and inputs. Above them, at district level, are District Central Cooperative Banks, and above those, at State level, State Cooperative Banks, with NABARD refinancing the whole structure. The reason PACS computerisation matters so much is that this bottom tier held its records on paper: a PACS could not be audited in real time, its loan book could not be seen by the DCCB above it, and a member's history existed only in a ledger at the society office. Putting 63,686 PACS on one ERP platform converts that into machine-readable data — 4.02 crore borrower records worth Rs 2.3 lakh crore, 5.49 crore deposit records worth about Rs 37,000 crore, and 10.30 crore membership records. Once digital, the PACS can be plugged into other systems: Aadhaar authentication, DCCB core banking for seven-day loan disbursal, the Common Service Centre portal so a PACS can deliver citizen services, AgriStack for farmer and land records that feed loan processing, and the Krishi Rin Portal so interest subvention reaches the right Aadhaar-authenticated borrower. The stated goal is to turn PACS from single-purpose credit societies into 'vibrant multipurpose economic institutions'.
Simple Analogy: It is the difference between a village shop keeping a handwritten ledger and the same shop running billing software connected to its supplier, its bank and the tax system — the shop does not change, but everything above it can now see and serve it.
| Body | Registered under | Purpose | Signature brand or output |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sahakar Taxi Cooperative Limited | Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act, 2002 | Cooperative ride-hailing with zero driver commission | Bharat Taxi — 8.48 lakh drivers, 11,106 daily rides |
| Bhartiya Beej Sahakari Samiti Limited | Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act, 2002 | Apex cooperative seed organisation | Bharat Beej — 124 varieties across 18 crops |
| National Cooperative Organics Limited | Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act, 2002 | Organic aggregation, certification and marketing | Bharat Organics — NPOP-certified, MoUs with 28 States/UTs |
| Tribhuvan Sahkari University | Its own Act, 2025 | Cooperative education and professional training | Three MBA programmes and five certificate courses |
| NUCFDC | RBI-approved Umbrella Organisation | Shared IT and operational support for Urban Cooperative Banks | Digi Loan and Digi Pay for around 1,500 UCBs |
Cooperatives are a State subject under Entry 32 of the State List, so a Union Ministry of Cooperation must work through Centrally Sponsored Projects, model policies and API integration with State RCS portals rather than direct regulation
The 97th Amendment made forming cooperative societies a fundamental right and added the promotion of cooperatives as a Directive Principle, giving the sector constitutional standing
Bharat Taxi's zero-commission, subscription-based cooperative model is a direct policy response to the aggregator commission and driver welfare debate, and connects to the Code on Social Security, 2020 provisions on gig and platform workers
ePACS integration with Aadhaar, AgriStack, the Krishi Rin Portal, CSCs and core banking systems is the DPI template applied to rural credit
Linking ePACS to the Krishi Rin Portal using Aadhaar as the common identifier is designed to target interest subvention accurately — a recurring theme in questions on leakage in subsidy delivery
BBSSL's mandate to cut import dependence and conserve indigenous varieties links to the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Act, 2001 and the wider debate on seed sector concentration
GS Paper 2 > Governance > Government Policies and Interventions; GS Paper 3 > Economy > Agricultural Credit
General Awareness > Government Schemes and Institutions
General Awareness > Cooperative Banking, RBI Regulation of UCBs and Rural Cooperative Banks
Cooperatives, PACS and the 97th Amendment recur in UPSC Prelims polity and economy, and cooperative banking is a standing banking-exam topic
Primary Agricultural Credit Society — the village-level bottom tier of the short-term cooperative credit structure; 63,686 are now on ERP-based national software
The status conferred on a PACS that has fully migrated to the ERP-based national software; 54,707 have been so declared
The Ministry of Cooperation's central dataset on cooperatives, launched 8 March 2024, covering about 8.6 lakh cooperatives across 30 sectors and roughly 32 crore members
Common Accounting System and Management Information System norms, to which the ePACS software's books of accounts and financial statements must conform, bringing uniform accounting across PACS
An internal control in which one user enters a transaction and another authorises it, built into the ePACS software to reduce operational risk
National Programme for Organic Production, India's organic certification benchmark notified by APEDA and launched in 2001; NCOL's Bharat Organics range must comply with it