The Centre has released Rs 10.89 crore to 10 States and Union Territories for the computerisation of Agriculture and Rural Development Banks (ARDBs) under a Rs 119.40 crore centrally sponsored project aimed at strengthening cooperatives through IT interventions.
Replying to a query in the Rajya Sabha, Union Cooperation Minister Amit Shah said the project, titled “Strengthening of Cooperatives through IT Interventions”, focuses on digitising ARDBs to improve efficiency and transparency in cooperative credit delivery.
Under the initiative, a national-level ERP-based software developed by the National Unified Software Provider in collaboration with National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development is being implemented with customization as per the requirements of participating states.
So far, 10 States/UTs, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Puducherry, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Tripura and Uttar Pradesh, have joined the project for computerisation of all ARDB units.
The project also covers hardware procurement, digitisation, software customisation, cyber security, data centre support and the establishment of a Central Project Management Unit (PMU) to monitor implementation.