Lok Sabha Question No. 2814 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-03-18
Subject: Digitalization of PACSs
Ministry: COOPERATION
Asked by: Shri Balram Naik Porika

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COOPERATION

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2814 TO BE ANSWERED ON 18 th  MARCH, 2025

## Digitalization of PACSs

## 2814. Shri Balram Naik Porika:

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

- (a) the  progress  made  in  the  digitalization  of  Primary  Agricultural  Credit  Societies (PACSs);
- (b) the measures taken to strengthen Multi-State Cooperative Societies; and
- (c) the steps taken to promote the formation of new cooperative societies?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF COOPERATION सहकारिता मंत्री (SHRI AMIT SHAH)

- (a): Government of India has approved a 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 NABARD through State Cooperative Banks (StCBs) and District Central Cooperative Banks (DCCBs). The National Level Common Software for the project has been developed by NABARD and 50,455 PACS have been onboarded on ERP software as on 27.01.2025. So far, proposals for computerization of 67,930 PACS from 30 States/ UTs have been sanctioned, for which  Rs.  741.34  Cr.  has  been  released  as  GoI  share  to  the  States/UTs  concerned  as  on 27.01.2025 and hardware has been delivered to 60,382 PACS. State-wise details of progress made under the Computerization of PACS Project are enclosed at Annexure.
- (b): In  order  to  strengthen  governance,  enhance  transparency,  increase  accountability, address issues of mismanagement and financial frauds and reform electoral process, etc. in Multi-State Cooperative Societies, the MSCS Act & Rules where comprehensively amended and notified on 03.08.2023 and 04.08.2023 respectively by supplementing existing legislation and incorporating the provisions of Ninety-seventh Constitutional Amendment.

Many provisions have been introduced via the above amendment to bring transparency in the functioning  of  multi  state  cooperative  societies  and  prevent  financial  irregularities  therein, inter-alia: -

- i. To ensure timely, regular and transparent conduct of elections in the multi-State cooperative  societies,  provision  of  Cooperative  Election  Authority  has  been included.
- ii. Appointment of Co-operative  Ombudsman by Central  Government  to  provide  a mechanism to address grievances of members.
- iii. To  improve  transparency,  appointment  of  Information  Officer  by  multi-State cooperative societies to provide information to members.
- iv. Concurrent Audit has been introduced for Multi-State Cooperative Societies with turnover/deposits of more than 500 crore rupees from a panel of auditors approved by  Central  Registrar.  Concurrent  audit  will  ensure  early  detection  of  fraud  or irregularities,  if  any,  and  accordingly  prompt  course  corrections  can  be  made. Following two panels of auditors for Multi-State Cooperative Societies have been notified for financial year 2023-24:
- a. Panel  of  auditors  for  multi-State  cooperative  societies  having  an  annual turnover/ deposit (as the case may be) of up to five hundred crore rupees for carrying out Statutory Audit.
- b. Panel  of  auditors  for  multi-State  cooperative  societies  having  an  annual turnover/ deposit (as the case may be) of more than five hundred crore rupees for carrying out Statutory and Concurrent Audit.
- v. Audit reports of National co-operative societies to be laid in Parliament to improve transparency.
- vi. Accounting  and  auditing  standards  for  multi-State  cooperative  societies  to  be determined by Central Government to ensure uniformity in accounting and auditing.
- vii. To improve governance and transparency, annual report of multi-State cooperative societies to include Board decisions which are not unanimous.
- viii. Central Government to determine prudential norms (liquidity, exposure, etc.) for multi-State co-operative societies in the business of thrift and credit.
- ix. To curb nepotism and favouritism in multi-State co-operative societies, the Director of a multi-State cooperative society shall not be present in the discussion and vote on matters where he or his relatives are an interested party.
- x. Additional grounds for disqualification for directors have been made to improve governance, for better recovery of dues and to ensure that such acts of omission or commission or fraud are not repeated elsewhere.
- xi. Provisions for Investment of funds by the multi-State cooperative societies have been redefined to ensure safer investments and remove references to colonial era securities.
- xii. To have more financial discipline and transparency, the board of multi-State cooperative  societies  to  constitute  Committee  for  Audit  and  Ethics  amongst  other committees.
- xiii. For strengthening governance, criteria for appointment of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) stipulated.
- xiv. To enhance democratic decision making in the multi-State cooperative societies, quorum has been prescribed for board meetings.
- xv. Central Registrar to conduct inquiry if he gets information that business is being conducted in a fraudulent manner or for unlawful purposes.
- xvi. If registration obtained by misrepresentation, fraud, etc., provision for winding up of a multi-State cooperative society after giving opportunity of being heard.
- xvii. To discourage members from acting against collective interests of the multi-State co-operative societies, the minimum period of expulsion of an expelled member of a multi-State co-operative society has been increased from 1 year to 3 years.

(c): The Government on 15.2.2023, has approved the Plan for strengthening cooperative movement  in  the  country  and  deepening  its  reach  up  to  the  grassroots.  The  Plan  entails establishment  of  2  lakh  new  multipurpose  PACS  (M-PACS),  Dairy,  Fishery  Cooperative Societies covering all the Panchayats/ villages in the country in five years, through convergence of various existing GOI schemes, including Dairy Infrastructure Development Fund (DIDF), National  Programme  for  Dairy  Development  (NPDD),  PM  Matsya  Sampada  Yojana (PMMSY), etc, with the support of National Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development (NABARD), National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB) and State Governments.

As per National Cooperative Database, a total of 12,957 new PACS, Dairy and Fishery Cooperative  Societies  have  been  registered  as  on  27.1.2025  across  the  country  since  the approval of the plan on 15.2.2023.

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Annexure State-wise details of progress made under the Computerization of PACS Project

| S. No   | State/ UT         | PACS selected for Computerization   | ERP Onboarded   | Number of PACS where Hardware delivered   | Day- End   |
|---------|-------------------|-------------------------------------|-----------------|-------------------------------------------|------------|
| 1.      | Maharashtra       | 12,000                              | 10,979          | 11,018                                    | 8,200      |
| 2.      | Rajasthan         | 6,781                               | 4,206           | 6,781                                     | 2,085      |
| 3.      | Gujarat           | 5,754                               | 5,249           | 5,754                                     | 2,165      |
| 4.      | Uttar Pradesh     | 5,686                               | 2,978           | 3,062                                     | 1,999      |
| 5.      | Karnataka         | 5,491                               | 2,077           | 5,491                                     | 81         |
| 6.      | Madhya Pradesh    | 4,536                               | 4,516           | 4,534                                     | 3,244      |
| 7.      | Tamil Nadu        | 4,532                               | 4,529           | 4,532                                     | 4,523      |
| 8.      | Bihar             | 4,495                               | 4,440           | 4,477                                     | 4,171      |
| 9.      | West Bengal       | 4,167                               | 1,103           | 1,647                                     | 430        |
| 10.     | Punjab            | 3,482                               | 1,720           | 3,456                                     | 160        |
| 11.     | Andhra Pradesh    | 2,037                               | 1,734           | 2,021                                     | -          |
| 12.     | Chhattisgarh      | 2,028                               | 2,010           | 2,028                                     | 1,934      |
| 13.     | Himachal Pradesh  | 1,789                               | 836             | 870                                       | 317        |
| 14.     | Jharkhand         | 1,500                               | 1,467           | 1,500                                     | 1,380      |
| 15.     | Haryana           | 710                                 | 617             | 710                                       | 54         |
| 16.     | Uttarakhand       | 670                                 | 185             | 670                                       | 185        |
| 17.     | Assam             | 583                                 | 580             | 583                                       | 252        |
| 18.     | J&K               | 537                                 | 531             | 537                                       | 523        |
| 19.     | Tripura           | 268                                 | 245             | 268                                       | 74         |
| 20.     | Manipur           | 232                                 | 45              | -                                         | 42         |
| 21.     | Nagaland          | 231                                 | 33              | 33                                        | 2          |
| 22.     | Meghalaya         | 112                                 | 103             | 109                                       | 100        |
| 23.     | Sikkim            | 107                                 | 107             | 107                                       | 34         |
| 24.     | Goa               | 58                                  | 35              | 50                                        | 16         |
| 25.     | ANI               | 46                                  | 46              | 46                                        | 46         |
| 26.     | Puducherry        | 45                                  | 37              | 45                                        | 37         |
| 27.     | Mizoram           | 25                                  | 25              | 25                                        | 20         |
| 28.     | Arunachal Pradesh | 14                                  | 11              | 14                                        | 1          |
| 29.     | Ladakh            | 10                                  | 9               | 10                                        | 9          |
| 30.     | DNH&DD            | 4                                   | 2               | 4                                         | -          |
|         | Total             | 67,930                              | 50,455          | 60,382                                    | 32,084     |