Ministry of Cooperation's Sahakar Se Samriddhi Initiative Comprehensive Progress Report
The Ministry of Cooperation has implemented over 150 initiatives under the 'Sahakar Se Samriddhi' program aimed at systematic, inclusive development of India's cooperative sector. The initiative focuses on expanding cooperative coverage to uncovered Panchayats, increasing member income through diversification and value addition, promoting transparent governance, ensuring greater participation of women and marginalized sections, and enabling financial viability of cooperative societies.
Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) Transformation
The Ministry has achieved significant milestones in computerizing 63,707 PACS across 30 States/UTs with ₹2,925.39 crore financial outlay, delivering hardware to 65,875 PACS and declaring 54,707 as e-PACS that have processed 51.58 crore transactions as of July 15, 2026. Model Bye-laws enabling PACS to undertake 25+ business activities have been adopted by 32 States/UTs. The government has registered 38,138 new PACS, dairy, and fishery cooperatives since February 15, 2023, with 21,292 existing societies strengthened.
World's Largest Grain Storage Plan
Under the decentralized grain storage plan, construction has been completed in 302 PACS creating 1.71 LMT capacity, with work commenced in 505 PACS (2.84 LMT capacity). Hiring assurance has been given for 680 PACS/cooperative godowns with 10.86 LMT capacity, while 496 additional PACS with 14.56 LMT capacity have been identified. Key amendments include reduced margin money requirement from 20% to 10%, revised construction costs from ₹3,000-3,500/MT to ₹6,000-7,000/MT for plain areas, and increased subsidy from 25% to 33.33%.
Financial and Banking Sector Reforms
National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) disbursement increased from ₹24,733.20 crore in FY2020-21 to ₹95,182.84 crore in FY2024-25, achieving over 40% CAGR, with ₹127,596.28 crore disbursed in FY2025-26. Significant regulatory reforms include reduction of Priority Sector Lending target for Urban Cooperative Banks from 75% to 60%, increased housing loan limits from 10% to 25% of assets (up to ₹3 crore), and removal of monetary ceiling for gold loans. The RBI has included rural cooperative banks in its Integrated Ombudsman Scheme and granted branch expansion flexibility.
Tax Relief Measures for Cooperatives
The initiative provided substantial tax relief including reduction of surcharge from 12% to 7% for cooperatives with income between ₹1-10 crore, reduction of MAT from 18.5% to 15%, enhancement of cash transaction limits from ₹20,000 to ₹2 lakh per member for PACS, and increase in cash withdrawal limit without TDS from ₹1 crore to ₹3 crore per year. New manufacturing cooperatives receive a flat 15% tax rate, and provisions prevent double taxation on inter-cooperative dividends.
National Level Multi-State Societies
Three new apex societies have been established: Bharatiya Beej Sahakari Samiti Limited (BBSSL) for seed production has produced 6,07,620 quintals of quality seed across 15 crops and distributed 3,18,572 quintals under 'Bharat Beej' brand; National Cooperative Organics Limited (NCOL) has 14,286 member cooperatives and offers 29 organic products under 'Bharat Organics' brand; National Cooperative Export Limited (NCEL) has exported 15.40 LMT of 54 commodities worth ₹6,341 crore to 38 countries, providing 20% dividend to members.
Himachal Pradesh Specific Progress
The state has registered 1,002 new cooperative societies including 136 multipurpose PACS, 854 dairy cooperatives, and 12 fishery cooperatives, while strengthening 148 existing dairy and 9 fishery societies. Under PACS computerization, 1,885 PACS have been sanctioned, with hardware installed in 1,789, 1,598 onboarded on ERP platform, and 1,168 declared as e-PACS. Cooperative institutions provided ₹611.86 crore loans to 2,23,928 members during 2025-26. Under White Revolution 2.0, 429 new dairy cooperatives were formed in 2024-25 against target of 90, and 414 in 2025-26 against target of 70. NCDC disbursed ₹40.98 crore to the state from 2021-22 to 2025-26.
Additional Key Initiatives
The Ministry established 'Tribhuvan' Sahkari University by converting IRMA, launched Bharat Taxi cooperative mobility platform with 6.37 lakh drivers registered, created National Cooperative Database covering 8.6 lakh cooperatives with 32 crore members, and implemented National Cooperation Policy 2025 with 6 strategic pillars and 83 recommendations. The initiative also includes ethanol blending promotion, reduction of GST on molasses from 28% to 5%, and ₹10,000 crore loan scheme for sugar cooperative mills through which NCDC has released ₹10,005 crore to 56 sugar mills.