MAPUSA
The State has 5,853 registered cooperative societies, but the financial health of more than half of them remains unavailable, raising questions over the extent to which the State has a clear picture of the performance of its sprawling cooperative sector.
Government data shows that financial information is not available for 3,357 cooperative societies, while 1,746 societies have reported profits and 743 are making losses. The figures mean that financial information is available for only 2,489 societies, or less than half of the total registered cooperative societies.
The government data also shows that the State has 696 non-functional cooperative societies, besides 165 societies under liquidation and eight that have been dissolved. Against the total of 5,853 registered societies, 4,985 are classified as functional.
Interestingly, nearly half of the total societies belong to the housing cooperative societies category which are not profit-oriented.
The numbers raise a larger question over how many of the thousands of registered societies remain active on the ground and how effectively their financial condition is being monitored. Cooperation Minister Subhash Shirodkar said the department undertakes a detailed review of the financial position of cooperative societies through statutory audits, inspections and assessment of returns filed under the provisions of the Act.
He attributed the functioning or non-functioning of societies, as well as financial or business losses, largely to the business policies and measures adopted by their respective boards of directors, which are responsible for framing the societies' policies. The government, he said, provides various schemes offering assistance through share capital, loan-cum-subsidy and grants to different classes of societies. The financial data, however, presents a striking picture of the sector: 3,357 societies have no financial information available, while 909 are either non-functional or under liquidation.
The government has also clarified that housing cooperative societies are not profit-oriented, while Self Help Groups and Pani Vantap societies are exempted from audit. This could account for a portion of the societies for which conventional profit-and-loss information is unavailable. With cooperative societies covering sectors ranging from housing, agriculture and credit to consumer, fisheries and other activities, the data points to a sizeable part of the cooperative sector operating without a consolidated picture of its financial health.
