In order to diversify the economic activities of PACS to make them multipurpose economic entities, Model Byelaws have been prepared by the Ministry, enabling PACS to undertake more than 25 business activities, including dairy, fishery, setting up godowns, procurement of foodgrains, fertilizers, seeds, LPG/CNG/Petrol/Diesel distributorship, short- term & long-term credit, custom hiring centers, Fair Price Shops (FPS), community irrigation, Common Service Centre, etc.
In addition to the above, the Government of India has taken several other important initiatives as well, including the following:
Strengthening of PACS through Computerization: In order to strengthen PACS, project for Computerization of functional PACS was approved with a total financial outlay of ₹2,516 Crore which has been increased to ₹2,925.39 crores by the Government of India, which entails bringing all functional PACS in the Country onto a common ERP based national software, linking them with NABARD through StCBs and DCCBs. This initiative helps in improving the operational efficiency of PACS, ensuring speedy disbursal of loans, lowering of transaction costs, increasing transparency and increasing farmers’ trustworthiness in PACS operations. So far, a total of 73,492 PACS from 31 States/ UTs have been sanctioned under the project. A total of 59,920 PACS have been onboarded on ERP Software and hardware has been procured by 30 States/UTs
Establishing New Multipurpose PACS/ Dairy/ Fishery Cooperatives in covering all the Panchayats: The Government has approved the plan to establish new multipurpose PACS/dairy/fisheries cooperatives, aiming to cover all panchayats and villages in the country in five years. This initiative is supported by NABARD, NDDB, NFDB and State/UT Governments. As per National Cooperative Database, a total of 22,606 new PACS, Dairy and Fishery Cooperative Societies have been registered as on 30.06.2025 across the country since the approval of the plan on 15.2.2023.