PERFORMANCE OF PRIMARY AGRICULTURAL CREDIT COOPERATIVE SOCIETIES IN MAHARASHTRA: AN ASSESSMENT

Credit cooperatives, played a crucial role in the channeling of institutional credit to agriculture with a
multi-agency approach along with commercial banks and regional rural banks to disburse credit in rural
and urban areas. The present study investigates the performance of the primary agric ultural credit
cooperative societies, analyses the different phases of growth and distribution of PACS credit, and
understands the multiple dimensions of the phenomenon of crops and social groups in Maharashtra. The
loan advance amount increased year after year but decreased in the COVID pandemic year, with more
than 50 percent of the total credit disbursed to the Pune and Nashik divisions and far less to the Kokan
division. There is an imbalance in credit distribution in the state. Further, SCs and STs Members receive
only an average of 5 percent of the society's credit.