New Delhi: Nearly four out of every 10 functional cooperative societies in India are running at a loss, the Centre informed Parliament Wednesday, underlining the financial challenges facing the sector despite the government’s push to expand and strengthen the cooperative movement.
In a written reply to Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh (AAP), Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah said that as of 15 July 2026, India had 6.63 lakh functional cooperative societies. Of these, 3.56 lakh were profit-making, while 2.50 lakh were loss-making.
The financial information was unavailable for another 56,689 societies, Shah said in the reply in Parliament.
The ministry also said the country has a total of 8.53 lakh registered cooperative societies. Of these, 1.41 lakh are non-functional and 49,177 are under liquidation.
To revive financially distressed cooperatives, Shah said the government has created a Co-operative Rehabilitation, Reconstruction and Development Fund under the Multi-State Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Act, 2023.
“The Ministry of Cooperation has set up Co-operative Rehabilitation, Reconstruction and Development Fund… for revival of sick multi-state cooperative societies and providing assistance for meeting infrastructural requirement,” the minister stated in the reply in Parliament.
The ministry added that it is also encouraging Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS), and dairy and fisheries cooperatives to diversify into multipurpose societies to improve their financial sustainability. It is also using the National Cooperative Database (NCD) to identify geographical gaps in the cooperative network and develop a cooperative ranking framework.
The sector-wise data showed that housing cooperatives accounted for the largest share at 1.95 lakh, followed by dairy cooperatives (1.58 lakh) and Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (1.06 lakh).
The state-wise data showed Maharashtra had the highest number of cooperative societies in the country at 2.27 lakh, followed by Gujarat (88,119), Telangana (60,680) and Madhya Pradesh (53,216).
However, Madhya Pradesh recorded the highest number of non-functional societies at 18,433, ahead of Uttar Pradesh (16,951) and Telangana (13,569).
Among the larger states, Maharashtra had the most loss-making cooperative societies at 71,593, accounting for nearly one-third of its functional cooperatives, while financial data was unavailable for another 39,069 societies.
After Maharashtra, Telangana had the second highest number of loss-making cooperatives at 22,819, ahead of Gujarat (18,404).
The data released by the government in Parliament showed that Gujarat also had one of the strongest financial records among larger states, with about 72 percent of its functional cooperatives reporting profits.
In contrast, Andhra Pradesh recorded one of the weakest performances, with nearly three-fourths of its 12,408 functional cooperative societies running at a loss.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)
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