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Primary Agricultural Cooperative Society (PACS)

Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) are village-level credit cooperatives that form the base of India's three-tier short-term cooperative credit structure — PACS at the village level, District Central Cooperative Banks (DCCBs) at the district level and State Cooperative Banks (StCBs) at the apex — refinanced by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD).

Overview

PACS disburse short-term crop loans, Kisan Credit Card drawings (see Kisan Credit Card Kcc), dairy and fisheries credit and longer-term agri-business loans at concessional interest, drawing funds from DCCBs. Beyond credit, many PACS handle input supply, fertilizer distribution, custom hiring of farm equipment and procurement of paddy and other commodities for state agencies (see Ikp Paddy Procurement).

Eligibility

Farmers, agricultural labourers and rural producers residing within the area of operation of a PACS can become members on payment of share capital and admission fee. Each member has one vote regardless of shareholding, in line with cooperative principles.

Benefit and structure

  • Village tier of the three-tier short-term cooperative credit system
  • Disbursement of short-term crop loans on KCC and seasonal advances
  • Input supply and consumer goods retail in many states
  • Increasingly multifunctional — branch of common services in line with model bye-laws issued by the Ministry of Cooperation

The Centrally Sponsored Project for Computerisation of PACS, approved in June 2022, is bringing approximately 63,000 PACS onto a common ERP platform linked to DCCBs and StCBs via NABARD. Sanctions have been issued for 67,930 PACS across 30 states and union territories, with the project period running 2022-23 to 2026-27.

Implementation

NABARD is the central implementing agency for the computerisation project, with hardware, software and training co-funded by the Centre. The Ministry of Cooperation oversees policy and budgetary support. PACS interact with the AIF for asset financing (see Nabard Agri Infrastructure Fund) and with FPOs for last-mile aggregation (see Farmer Producer Organisation Fpo).

See also Kisan Credit Card Kcc, Nabard Agri Infrastructure Fund, Ikp Paddy Procurement and Farmer Producer Organisation Fpo.

References

  1. Computerization of PACS. Ministry of Cooperation.
  2. Cabinet Approves Computerization of PACS. Press Information Bureau.