Need to boost agri-finance to Rs 10 lakh cr through cooperatives: Amit Shah

TIL Desk/National/New Delhi/ Cooperation Minister Amit Shah on Friday made a case for expanding the network of primary agriculture credit societies to every ‘panchayat’ with an aim to increase agri-finance to Rs 10 lakh crore annually through cooperatives.

While addressing a national conference on rural cooperative banks organised by Ministry of Cooperation and the National Federation of State Cooperative Banks (NAFSCOB), he stressed on increasing the number of primary agriculture credit societies (PACS) from nearly 1 lakh to 3 lakh over the next five years. “PACS are the soul of our agriculture credit system. Until PACS work in a good manner, our agricultural system cannot work properly. It is equally important to expand the PACS outreach,” Shah said.

The minister stated that there are 3 lakh panchayats in the country, while the number of PACS is about 95,000 currently, of which about 65,000 are functional. “Still there are 2 lakh panchayats that do not have any PACS,” Shah said, and exhorted senior officials of State Cooperative Banks (SCBs) and District Central Cooperative Banks (DCCBs) to set a five-year strategy in this regard. “