Union Minister Amit Shah addressed the 89th General Council meeting of the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) in New Delhi on October 9.

NCDC disbursed financial assistance of more than Rs 41,000 crore in 2022-23. 

Shah exuded confidence that the NCDC will achieve a financial disbursement target of Rs 50,000 crore in the current 2023-24 fiscal. 

National Cooperative Development Corporation

• National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC), a statutory corporation under the ministry of agriculture and farmers welfare was established in 1963 under an Act of Parliament (NCDC Act of 1962) for economic development through cooperative societies. 

• NCDC is a non-equity based promotional organisation created exclusively for planning, promoting and financing of programmes for production, processing, marketing, storage, export and import of agricultural produce, foodstuff and certain notified commodities, on cooperative principles. 

• The NCDC Act underwent change in 1974 to include more business activities like fishery, poultry, dairy, handloom & sericulture and by the amendment, NCDC’s resource base was broadened, thus enabling raising funds from the market. 

• The Act was again amended in 2002 to cover some more areas such as livestock, industrial goods, cottage and village industries, handicrafts, rural crafts and certain notified services like water conservation works, irrigation, animal healthcare, disease prevention, agriculture insurance and agriculture credit, rural sanitation and services pertaining to labour cooperatives. 

• Along with the above, the amendment also enables NCDC to finance cooperative societies directly under its various schemes, on fulfilment of certain stipulated conditions.

• NCDC is able to finance projects in the rural industrial cooperative sectors and for certain notified services in rural areas like water conservation, irrigation and micro irrigation, agri-insurance, agro-credit, rural sanitation, animal health, etc.

• The schemes implemented and activities assisted by NCDC are designed to enhance income and improve livelihood of farmers and economically weaker sections of the society like artisans, weavers, poor rural population including tribals.

• Cooperatives organised exclusively by women are assisted under the scheme introduced for the purpose.

• Apart from activity-based assistance, NCDC also promotes area based projects like Integrated Cooperative Development Project (ICDP) in selected districts. 

• ICDP is a project, which works for the overall development of the people of a district by unleashing the potential of the district through development of various cooperative activities. 

• The management of NCDC is vested in a General Council consisting of 51 members and a board of management consisting of 12 members, who are nominated by the central government. 

• The General Council lays down policy guidelines and the board oversees the general management of NCDC.

• Besides its head office in New Delhi, NCDC functions through 18 regional/state directorates.

• NCDC is one of the implementing agencies promoting the government’s scheme of Formation and Promotion of 10,000 Farmers Producer Organisations (FPOs), which provide for registration and support of new cooperatives as FPOs. 

• It is also an implementing agency for the Formation and Promotion of Fish Farmers Producer Organisations (FFPOs) under the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana.

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