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Parliament completed passage of the National Co-operative Development Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2026 when the Rajya Sabha cleared it on 12 August 2026; the Lok Sabha had passed it on 11 August.
The Bill amends the NCDC Act, 1962 to shift the Corporation's mandate from financing specified commodities to supporting 'co-operative development' generally, directly or through an intermediary.
'Foodstuffs' is widened to cover processed food and other edible products, letting NCDC finance food processing, packaging and value addition.
The requirement that entities making eligible industrial goods be located in rural areas is removed, and direct loans, grants and investment are extended to State-level cooperative societies with central approval.
A new provision lets NCDC collect and share credit information with the government, the RBI and banks to improve lending and risk assessment.
Statutory corporation that plans, promotes and finances cooperative development programmes - production, processing, marketing, storage and value addition
The Union ministry created in 2021 to provide a separate administrative, legal and policy framework for the cooperative sector; NCDC functions under it
The parent statute creating the Corporation; the 2026 Bill amends its definitions, functions and financing powers.
Inserted the word 'co-operatives' after 'unions and associations', making the formation of cooperative societies a fundamental right of citizens.
A Directive Principle requiring the State to promote voluntary formation, autonomous functioning, democratic control and professional management of cooperative societies.
Inserted by the same amendment to govern cooperative societies; in Union of India v. Rajendra N. Shah (2021) the Supreme Court struck it down in so far as it applies to societies within a single State, for want of ratification by half the States under the proviso to Article 368(2), while upholding it for multi-State cooperatives.
Places the incorporation, regulation and winding up of cooperative societies within a State in the legislative domain of the States - the reason the ratification requirement bit in the 2021 case.
GS Paper II > Parliament and Legislation; Statutory Bodies; Centre-State Relations. GS Paper III > Agriculture and Cooperative Sector
General Awareness > Polity, Bills and Statutory Bodies
General Awareness > Development Finance Institutions and the Cooperative Sector
A body created directly by an Act of Parliament or a State legislature, which defines its powers and functions - as the NCDC Act, 1962 does for NCDC.
The Directive Principle inserted by the 97th Amendment requiring the State to promote voluntary formation, autonomous functioning, democratic control and professional management of cooperative societies.
The constitutional chapter on cooperative societies inserted in 2011 and held inapplicable to societies within a single State by the Supreme Court in 2021, for want of State ratification.
Data on a borrower's loans, repayment record and exposure, used to price and manage lending risk; the Bill lets NCDC collect and share it with the government, the RBI and banks.
Processing, packaging, branding and marketing that raise the price a producer realises above the value of the raw produce - the activity the widened 'foodstuffs' definition targets.