Rajya Sabha passes NCDC Amendment Bill to boost cooperative sector funding

The Rajya Sabha on Wednesday passed the National Co-operative Development Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2026, paving the way for the statutory body to provide loans and grants directly to cooperative societies and other entities involved in cooperative development.

The Bill, which had cleared the Lok Sabha on Tuesday without a debate amid opposition protests, seeks to expand the National Cooperative Development Corporation’s (NCDC) ability to finance projects and institutions supporting the cooperative sector.

Minister of State for Cooperation Murlidhar Mohol had moved the legislation in the Lok Sabha.


The NCDC was established in 1963 under the National Cooperative Development Corporation Act, 1962. It operates under the Ministry of Cooperation and is responsible for planning, promoting and financing programmes related to the production, processing, marketing, storage and export-import of agricultural produce, foodstuffs and other notified commodities.

The amendment seeks to remove an existing limitation that prevents the corporation from directly financing certain entities whose work is aimed at developing cooperatives but which are not themselves registered as cooperative societies.