Chandigarh, September 25, 2025: Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann on Thursday announced the withdrawal of all earlier restrictions on registering new cooperative societies in Punjab, including Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS), milk and dairy cooperatives, and labour societies. The government said the move aims to expand the cooperative ecosystem and strengthen grassroots participation across rural communities.
Mann said the step was in line with the core principles of the cooperative movement—voluntarism, democratic member control, and open access. He added that the state is drafting a comprehensive Cooperative Policy to bring more people under the cooperative umbrella, widen participation, and ensure fair competition.
With immediate effect, the state has scrapped restrictive rules that had barred registration of a new society in areas where one already existed. Norms such as rigid operational boundaries and the 8-km minimum distance requirement for labour societies have also been lifted. New registrations will now proceed strictly under the Punjab Cooperative Societies Act, 1961, without artificial curbs that limited member choice or enabled monopolies.
The Chief Minister said the earlier curbs undermined the spirit of the 1961 Act by discouraging voluntary participation and creating monopoly providers. The revised approach seeks to make cooperatives central to Punjab’s rural and economic development, ensuring direct benefits for farmers, workers, and micro-entrepreneurs.
As part of the reforms, the government will also cut registration fees for PACS, dairy, and fishery cooperatives to help small and marginal farmers and weaker sections join and benefit. Officials said the affordability push is part of a larger effort to revitalise the sector through inclusivity, healthy competition, and empowerment at the grassroots level.
