Srinagar, Aug 5: The Centre on Wednesday said 1,611 new cooperative societies have been registered in Jammu and Kashmir as part of a broader initiative to revitalise the cooperative sector, while 708 Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) have been sanctioned for computerisation under a national digitalisation programme.
According to the Ministry of Cooperation, the newly registered societies, as of July 15, 2026, include 232 multipurpose PACS, 1,339 Dairy Cooperative Societies and 40 Fishery Cooperative Societies. In addition, 760 existing Dairy Cooperative Societies and one Fishery Cooperative Society have been strengthened.
The Ministry said it had launched the Cooperative Ranking Framework on January 24, 2025, to enable objective and continuous assessment of cooperative societies. The framework, shared with States and Union Territories, uses standardised parameters such as audit compliance, financial performance and operational activities, enabling Registrars of Cooperative Societies (RCS) to independently assess societies and take corrective measures at the State, district and block levels. Revival of non-functional societies, it said, remains the responsibility of the respective State Governments and Union Territory Administrations under the applicable cooperative laws.
The Ministry said it is supporting the J&K administration through a multi-pronged strategy to strengthen the viability, governance and operational capacity of cooperative institutions. The measures include computerisation and digital profiling of PACS, adoption of Model Bye-laws allowing PACS to undertake more than 25 business activities, formation of new multipurpose, dairy and fishery cooperative societies in uncovered areas, capacity building, business diversification and institutional support through the National Cooperative Development Corporation’s sub-office in J&K.
It added that Jammu and Kashmir has also been brought under the operational framework of the Sardar Patel Cooperative Dairy Federation Limited to promote organised milk procurement, modern dairy practices and improved market linkages.
Under the Centrally Sponsored Project for Computerisation of PACS, the Ministry said functional PACS are being integrated into a common ERP-based national software platform to improve transparency, accounting, governance and operational efficiency.
Of the 708 PACS sanctioned for computerisation in J&K, hardware has been supplied to 537 societies, all of which have been onboarded onto the ERP platform and declared as e-PACS as of July 15, 2026.
The Ministry said training programmes are also being conducted for PACS functionaries on governance, ERP operations, business planning, convergence with government schemes and diversification of activities.
It added that PACS are also being enabled to function as Common Service Centres and agricultural input service centres to improve access to digital services, banking, insurance and agricultural inputs in remote and border areas, while linkages are being facilitated with national-level cooperative societies engaged in exports, organic products and quality seeds.
