Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah informed the Lok Sabha that Bhagalpur district in Bihar has 788 cooperative societies, of which 728 are functional, according to the National Cooperative Database (NCD) as on July 15, 2026.
In a written reply, Shah said the Centre is strengthening cooperative institutions through a series of reforms and digital initiatives. He highlighted that the PACS Computerisation Project has been expanded from 63,000 to 79,630 Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) across the country, with the project outlay increased from Rs 2,516 crore to Rs 2,925.39 crore.
The initiative aims to bring all functional PACS onto a common ERP-based software platform linked with District Central Cooperative Banks and State Cooperative Banks.
The Minister also said that since the approval of the nationwide plan on February 15, 2023, the Government has facilitated the registration of 38,138 new PACS, dairy and fisheries cooperative societies, while 21,292 dairy and fisheries cooperatives have been strengthened nationwide.
Shah added that the Ministry of Cooperation has also taken up the computerisation of the Central Registrar’s Office, State Registrar offices and Agriculture and Rural Development Banks to modernise the cooperative sector.
