The government plans to broaden the mandate of the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) by allowing it to extend loans and grants directly to cooperative societies engaged in diverse activities beyond the conventional ones.
The National Co-operative Development Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2026, introduced in the Lok Sabha on Monday, also allows the corporation to participate in the share capital of any co-operatives or any entity engaged in co-operative development, with the central government’s approval.
The proposed legislation states that the co-operative sector has expanded and diversified considerably in recent years. Statutory bodies, State Government agencies and other specialised entities are increasingly providing infrastructure, technology, processing, marketing, financial and other services for the development of co-operatives, it stated.
“Since such entities may not be registered as co-operative societies, the Corporation is presently unable to finance them directly, even where their activities are intended to benefit the co-operative sector,” the bill noted. Consequently, routing such proposals through State governments or co-operative societies results in procedural delays and limited uptake, it said.
The legislation proposes to expand the definition of ‘foodstuffs’ to include any other food items notified by the Centre. The geographical restriction applicable to industrial goods is proposed to be removed. This will enable assistance for such activities irrespective of their location.
The NCDC Act, 1962, has been amended in 1973, 1974 and 2002 to diversify the corporation’s sources of funds.
NCDC, which functions under the cooperation ministry, supports cooperatives in terms of planning, promotion and financing for the production, processing, marketing, storage and exports and imports of agricultural commodities and other notified commodities.
In 2025-26, NCDC sanctioned Rs 1.55 lakh crore and disbursed Rs 1.27 lakh crore to cooperatives. By the end of June, 2026, NCDC had cumulatively disbursed over Rs 5.74 lakh crore including Rs 3.96 lakh crore in the last five years, for the development of cooperative institutions.