The Cooperative sector plays a pivotal role in strengthening the rural economy. The cooperative societies engaged, particularly, in the rural based sector such as agriculture, fishery, agro-processing, dairy are providing credit, agricultural inputs and marketing for milk, fish, vegetable, fruits, flower, medicinal plants, forest products, honey& resham etc.
Financial assistance under various schemes is provided to the Cooperative sector through Central & State Governments, National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) and other Institutions.
NCDC, which is a statutory corporation under Ministry of Cooperation, has disbursed financial assistance across the country including rural areas in the last two years are as follows:
(Rs. In crores)
| S.No. | Year | Disbursement |
| 1. | 2020-21 | 24733.24 |
| 2. | 2021-22 | 34221.08 |
(d). While direct employment is provided by the concerned Cooperative Societies, the strengthening of the entire ecosystem of Cooperative sector generates huge opportunities of indirect employment in the rural sector. Keeping this in mind, the Government has taken many initiatives that includes preparation of a new National Cooperation Policy, consolidating a National Cooperative Database, preparing Sahakar se Samriddhi scheme while computerising the existing Primary Agriculture Cooperative Societies (PACS) and initiating stakeholder consultation for Model bye laws for Multipurpose and Multiservice PACS making such societies multi dimensional and more economically viable units.
This was stated by the Minister of Cooperation, Shri Amit Shah in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha today.