Now Reading: Govt to table bill to expand NCDC’s lending mandate
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Govt to table bill to expand NCDC’s lending mandate
The government will introduce a bill in Lok Sabha on Monday to broaden the mandate of the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC). The amendment to the 1962 NCDC Act will allow the…
The Story in Brief
The government will introduce a bill in Lok Sabha on Monday to broaden the mandate of the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC). The amendment to the 1962 NCDC Act will allow the corporation to give loans and grants directly to cooperative societies or any entity engaged in cooperative sector development.
The bill proposes to remove geographical restrictions on industrial goods financing, expand the definition of 'foodstuffs', and allow NCDC to participate in share capital of cooperatives. The changes follow the creation of a separate Ministry of Cooperation in June 2021.
The Indian Opinion
The usual chest-thumping over cooperative sector reforms misses the point. The bill is a bureaucratic fix for a problem created by earlier bureaucratic fixes. Instead of celebrating NCDC's expanded powers, we should ask why cooperatives need direct government loans in the first place. The real test will be whether this reduces the 43% of cooperatives that remain dormant or merely creates another layer of patronage. One number to watch: how many new cooperatives get registered in the next 12 months versus those that default on these new loans.
Source: legal.economictimes.indiatimes.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
