New Delhi, Aug 13 (KNN) There is a need to increase the number of primary agriculture credit societies (PACS) from nearly 1 lakh to 3 lakh over the next five years in order to increase the agri-finance through cooperatives,Union Cooperation Minister Amit Shah said on Friday.

While addressing the national conference on rural cooperative banks organised by his Ministry of Cooperation and the National Federation of State Cooperative Banks (NAFSCOB), shah said that the primary agriculture credit societies should be developed in every 'panchayat' to increase agri-finance to Rs 10 lakh crore annually through cooperatives.

"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," he said. 

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 urged to the of State Cooperative Banks (SCBs) and District Central Cooperative Banks (DCCBs) to set a five-year strategy in this regard.  Every district cooperative bank should think how to create one single PACS in a panchayat and every state cooperative bank should monitor that strategy while NABARD should verify those strategies, the Minister said. 

"Suppose this gets multiplied by five, right now we have 65,000 well functioning PACS, if we can make as many as 3 lakh PACS that work well, then this Rs 2 lakh crore credit disbursal can become Rs 10 lakh crore," he added. 

The SCBs and DCCBs will now aim to achieve Rs 10 lakh crore agri- finance through PACS in the cooperatives.  (KNN Bureau)