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Primary Agricultural Credit Societies
The Government provides for establishing new multipurpose PACS/dairy/fisheries cooperatives to cover all panchayats and villages over the next 5 years. The ongoing PACS expansion, digitisation status updates, and recent governance provisions under the Multi-State Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Act, 2023.
Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS):
| Dimension | Key Details |
|---|---|
| Institutional level | PACS are the grass-root level institutions of the short-term co-operative credit structure. |
| Role in credit linkage | PACS acts as a last-mile link between borrowers and higher financing institutions such as Scheduled Commercial Banks and RBI/NABARD. |
| Current status (numbers) | PACS sanctioned: 79,630; New PACS registered: 32,802; PACS digitised: 61,478. |
| Multi-State PACS | Multi State PACS are governed by Entry 44 of Union List and are centrally administered by Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies (CRCS) under provisions of Multi-State Co-operative Societies Act, 2002. |
| Single-State PACS | Single State PACS are governed by Entry 32 of State List and are administered by the concerned State Registrar of Cooperative Societies (RCS) under respective State Cooperative Societies Act. |
| Government coverage | Establishment of new multipurpose PACS/dairy/fisheries cooperatives provides for covering all panchayats and villages over the next 5 years. |
| Agriculture-related | Enhanced infrastructure and post-harvest support is provided through the World’s Largest Decentralized Grain Storage Plan, which comprises establishing godowns and custom hiring centres. |
| Dairy-sector | Registration of more than 21,000 new Dairy Cooperative Societies provides for enhancing milk procurement by 50% over 5 years. |
| Fisheries-sector | Converting 1,000 fisheries cooperative societies into Fish Farmer Producer Organisations (FFPOs) provides for improving market linkages and value addition. |
| PACS Computerization Project | Computerization of PACS is provided under a common ERP-based national software. |
| National Cooperation Policy (NCP) 2025 | NCP 2025 provides for membership expansion and leadership roles for women and weaker sections. |
| Adoption of Model Bye-laws | Model Bye-laws provide for PACS to function as multipurpose service centres comprising PM Kisan Samriddhi Kendras, Common Service Centres, warehousing, custom hiring centres, and primary processing. |
| Mandatory representation | Mandatory representation of women and SC/ST members in cooperative boards is mandated under Multi-State Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Act, 2023. |
| Inclusion categories | Inclusion comprises SHGs, small & marginal farmers, and tribal communities. |