Dairy and agricultural cooperative-based economic activities
The schemes implemented to strengthen rural dairy cooperatives are as under:
- National Programme for Dairy Development:
- Various activities under NPDD Component A and B scheme of DAHD are helping strengthening of Dairy Cooperative Societies in rural areas:
- NPDD component B is being implemented across 9 states. The objective of the scheme is to increase sales of milk and dairy products by increasing farmers' access to organised market, upgrading dairy processing facilities and marketing infrastructure and enhancing the capacity of producers owned institutions.
- Under this scheme, financial assistance is provided for Strengthening Milk Procurement infrastructure at village level strengthening Milk processing & manufacturing facilities of Participating Institutions (PIs), Support for marketing & ICT infrastructure, Productivity enhancement, Training & capacity building of the farmers, staff, officers and board of directors of the Milk unions.
- The total outlay of the project is Rs. 1568.28 Crore comprising Rs. 924.56 Crore as an ODA loan from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Rs. 475.54 Crore as Government of India’s (GoI) grant-in-aid and Rs. 168.18 Crore as State/Participating Institution’s (PI) contribution.
- White Revolution 2.0:
WR 2.0 envisages the establishment of 75,000 new Multi-purpose Dairy Cooperative Societies (M-DCS) and the strengthening of 46,000 existing DCS over a five-year period from FY 2024-25 to FY 2028-29. By the end of the fifth year, milk procurement by dairy cooperatives is projected to reach 1000 Lakh Kg per Day.
The initiative is being funded under the revised National Programme for Dairy Development (NPDD) of the Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying (DAHD), Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying which has been aligned with the targets of WR 2.0. Under this scheme, financial assistance is being made available for:
- Setting up of village level milk procurement system
- Milk Chilling facilities for quality milk procurement
- Training and capacity building
- Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund (AHIDF) and erstwhile Dairy Processing and Infrastructure Development Fund (DIDF)
- Supporting Dairy Cooperatives and Farmer Producer Organisations engaged in dairy activities – Interest subvention for working capital loans (SDCFPO)
Under the scheme, an interest subvention of 2% per annum on the working capital loans is being provided to the Producer-Owned Institutions (POIs). Further, for prompt and timely repayment, an additional 2% per annum interest subvention is payable at the end of the loan repayment/interest servicing period to the eligible organizations/ POIs such as Milk Federations, Milk Unions, Farmer Owned Milk Producer Organisations.
Financial assistance and training programmes have been extended for fisheries and agricultural cooperatives, the details of which are as follows:
(i) At present, the Government of India is implementing sector-specific schemes, namely FIDF, PMMSY, and PMMKSSY for the fisheries sector under which cooperatives are eligible beneficiaries. The NFDB, under Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) Scheme, is facilitating the formation of 6,000 new Fisheries Cooperative Societies (FCS) during 2024-25 to 2028-29, with financial support of Rs 3.00 lakh for each newly formed fisheries cooperative societies towards establishment, maintenance, training of members. A total of 1,225 of newly formed fisheries cooperatives have been supported with financial grant of Rs 3.00 lakh each covering 34 States/UTs
(ii) The National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) has been providing financial assistance to the cooperative sector. As on 25.11.2025, NCDC has cumulatively disbursed ₹4,67,455.66 crore for the development of cooperative societies across the country.
(iii) Training is provided to individuals associated with cooperative societies across various sectors, including agriculture, fisheries and allied areas by National Council for Cooperative Training (NCCT) and NCDC through its National training academy LINAC.
The Government of India has approved the plan to establish new multipurpose PACS/dairy/fisheries cooperatives, aiming to cover all panchayats and villages in the country over the next five years. This initiative is supported by NABARD, National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB), and State/UT Governments. As per the National Cooperative Database, a total of 30,083 new PACS, Dairy and Fishery Cooperative Societies have been registered; and 15,793 Dairy and Fisheries Cooperative Societies have been strengthened as on 15.11.2025 across the country. These newly registered Primary Agricultural Credit Society (PACS) / Dairy Cooperative Societies (DCS)/ Fishery Cooperative Societies (FCS) have been provided with various support measures as under:
- Capacity-building programmes for Members, Secretaries and Boards of newly registered PACS are conducted through National Council for Cooperative Training (NCCT) and NABARD.
- Under PACS Computerization project, capacity-building programs have been introduced as part of the implementation to support PACS in adopting and managing the new software.
- Support from NDDB for dairy cooperatives (training, animal health, breeding, feed and fodder, cold-chain, and digital tools).
- Support from National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB) for fisheries cooperatives, including training, cage culture, biofloc adoption, infrastructure grants, and cluster-based wetland management. The NFDB, under Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) Scheme, is facilitating the formation of 6,000 new Fisheries Cooperative Societies (FCS) during 2024-25 to 2028-29, with financial support of Rs 3.00 lakh for each newly formed fisheries cooperative societies towards establishment, maintenance, training of members. A total of 1,225 of newly formed fisheries cooperatives have been supported with financial grant of Rs 3.00 lakh each covering 34 States/UTs
Source : Dairynews7x7 Dec 19th 2025 PIB