A newsletter of Centre for Professional Excellence in Cooperatives (C-PEC), BIRD, Lucknow Volume III ( I I ), July-September 2018

What’s new in C-PEC?

Accreditation:
Pilot testing of the revised validation format for
accreditation was conducted at ACSTI,
From the Director’s Desk Lucknow on 17th & 18th July, 2018.
Validation visit for Accreditation and Re-
I am pleased to share the e-newsletter of C-PEC for
the second quarter of Financial Year 2018-19, accreditation of Cooperative Training Institutes
highlighting the activities of C-PEC during July to as per the new revised formats were held during
September 2018. the quarter as below:
o 23rd & 24th July 2018: Re-accreditation of
The enrolments for the 04 certification courses of C- Institute of Cooperative Management for
PEC were completed in the quarter and we have Agriculture & Rural Development (ICMARD),
received an overwhelming response with a total of West Bengal
607 enrolled candidates, appearing for the o 9th & 10th August 2018: Accreditation of
examinations during the current year 2018-19. Center for Cooperative Management,
Gopalpur – On-Sea, Odisha
The first section of this newsletter highlights
activities take up by C-PEC in this quarter and also
gives a gist of activities planned for future.
The second section of the newsletter discusses the
need, importance & relevance of the scheme of
Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare on
‘Computerization of Primary Agricultural Credit
Societies (PACS)’. The scheme will be implemented
in a phased manner in the next three years from
2018-19 to 2020-21. Approximately 63,000
functional PACS will be computerized in these three
years. Validation Team Members at the Center for
Cooperative Management, Gopalpur – On-Sea
I solicit your valuable suggestions and feedback
from all the stakeholders, to make C-PEC, truly a o 13th & 14th August 2018: Re-accreditation
Centre for Professional Excellence in Cooperatives. of Apex Bank Training College, Bhopal (ACSTI
of MP StCB)
Thanking you! o 20th & 21st August 2018: Re-accreditation
of Agricultural Cooperative Staff Training
Smt. T S Raji Gain Institute (ACSTI), Jaipur

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 o 14th & 15th September 2018: Accreditation Standardization:
of MDMI (Manpower Development and
C-PEC has approved/ standardized the course
Management Institute), Guwahati, Assam
objectives, course contents, day-to-day schedule
o 17th & 18th September 2018: Re-
and course material of 02 programmes of CTI-
accreditation of PICT (Punjab Institute of
Cooperative Training Ltd), Chandigarh
Telangana State Cooperative Apex Bank Ltd.
o 19th & 20th September 2018: Re- (TSCAB) viz.
accreditation of JLTC (Junior Level Training o One day workshop on “Internal Checks and
Centre) of Punjab State Cooperative Control System”
Agricultural Development Bank Ltd., o Two day workshop on “System Based
Chandigarh Auditing of PACS for Departmental
o 24th & 25th September 2018: Re- Auditors”.
accreditation of Academy for Cooperative
Management Research & Training 01 Regional Stakeholder Seminar on
(ACMART), Kolkata “Professionalization in Cooperatives
Institutions” at Lakhimpur-Kheri has been
Examination:
successfully organized for the officials of DCCBs
The enrollment process for all the 04 and PACS on 06.07.2018. Officials from DCCBs
certification courses of C-PEC has been & PACS of Sitapur, Lakhimpur-Kheri, Bareilly,
completed and the study material has been Shahjahanpur, Bahraich and Pilibhit
supplied to all the candidates. participated in the seminar. The objective of the
A total of 607 candidates have enrolled for seminar was to disseminate information on C-
certification courses of C-PEC in the Financial PEC’s initiatives to participants DCCBs and also
Year 2018-19. 401 candidates from 16 states have how C-PEC can support in providing solutions
applied for Certified Professional in Cooperative pertaining to these issues.
Banking (CPCB) level-I; 78 candidates from 13
states have applied for CPCB Level-II; 100
candidates from 02 states have applied for
Certified PACS Secretary (CPS) and 28
candidates from 10 states have Certified Trainer
for Financial Cooperative (CTFC).
1st Mandatory Contact Class of the certification
course ‘Certified Trainer for Financial
Cooperative’s (CTFC’s)’ covering Module 1:
Training Skills & Module 2: Design & Evaluation
of Training was held from 27 August 2018 to 01
September 2018. Total numbers of participants
in the contact class were 25. Dr. Sudhanshu K. K. Mishra addressing the participants at
the Regional Stakeholder Seminar, Lakhimpur-Kheri

‘Draft Manual’ of Deposit taking PACS in

Mizoram has been completed and submitted.
The manual contains the draft guidelines which
need to be accepted and formalised by the RCS
in Mizoram to strengthen the PACS operations.
This manual also provides a base to PACS for
implementation of Structured Common
Accounting System, Audit, Management
Information System (MIS) and Supervision
Participants of 1st Contact Class of the certification course System in respect of deposits.
Certified Trainer for Financial Cooperative (CTFC)

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 Training of Trainers (ToT) on “Corporate
Governance in PACS” was conducted during =
What future beholds?
10th -12th September, 2018 for the Faculty
Members of CTIs. A total of 16 Faculty Members The Second Contact Class of certification
attended the programme. course Certified Trainer for Financial
Cooperatives (CTFC) will be held from 26th
November to 1st December 2018 at BIRD,
Lucknow on Module Design and Evaluation of
Training.
Training-cum-Workshop on Cyber
Security and Information Systems
Policy: C-PEC has been instructed by
NABARD, IDD, HO, to draft a 03 day training-
cum-workshop on ‘Cyber Security and
Information System (IS) Policy in Cooperative
Banks’ for the benefit of the CEOs of StCBs and
Participants of Training of Trainers (TOT) on IT Nodal Officers of StCBs. C-PEC in near future
‘Corporate Governance in PACS might take up the programme once approved.

C-PEC along with Academic section of BIRD 17th Accreditation Board Meeting for
conducted 02 Training Programme on accreditation/ re-accreditation of CTI’s is
Corporate Governance viz.: tentatively scheduled to be held on 31st October
2018.
o Training Programme on Corporate
Governance for CEOs of DCCBs and StCB of C-PEC has been assigned to organize
state of Gujarat at Goa during 29th -31st July, workshops for Comprehensive
2018. Turnaround of weak DCCBs, of C & D
o Programme on Corporate Governance for
category in two years (2018-19 and 2019-20).
BOD of StCB & DCCB’s at ACSTI, Shimla, Weak Banks from 24 state have been identified
Himachal Pradesh from 17-19 September and we are planning to organize 02 workshops,
2018. one at BIRD, Lucknow and second at BIRD,
Mangalore in the month of November and
Publication of Books for Cooperatives & December 2018.
RRBs: Four books on CRR, SLR, Investment & C-PEC is planning to announce 02 more
Treasury Management for cooperatives and Training of Trainers (ToT) Programme
one book on CRR & SLR for RRBs were on Investment and Treasury Management and
published and put on sale. The names of the Business Development in PACS in month of
books are as under: November and December 2018.
o A comprehensive Guide on CRR & SLR for C-PEC is also planning to organize
Schedule StCBs Stakeholder Seminar in four States viz.
o A comprehensive Guide on CRR & SLR for Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and
Non-Schedule StCBs Rajasthan. Dates would be finalized in
o A Comprehensive Guide on CRR and SLR for consultation with Regional Offices of NABARD.
District Central Co-operative Banks (DCCBs) Consultancy Assignments: C-PEC is in
o A Comprehensive Guide on CRR and SLR for negotiations with Madhya Pradesh State
Regional Rural Banks (RRB) Cooperative Bank for development of training
o Compendium of RBI & NABARD instructions modules & Arunachal Pradesh State
on Investment & Treasury Management for Cooperative Bank for holding contact class for
Rural Cooperative Banks CPCB Level-I for enrolled employees.
The books are being sold by C-PEC at a discounted Two e-learning Modules on Internal Checks
rate to its individual as well as institutional & Controls and NPA & Recovery Management
members. are under preparation.

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 therefore, a wider spread and reach in rural India
Section II than the Commercial Banks and Regional Rural
Theme: Computerization of Primary Banks. The Cooperative Credit Structure
Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS)
moreover has almost double the number of rural
outlets (47,445 as on Sep 2016, RBI data) and
1.1 Title of the Scheme – Computerization of more clients.
Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS).
PACS are the bottom-tier of the Short Term
1.2 Sponsoring Agency – Ministry of Agriculture Cooperative Credit Structure (STCCS) (Two-tier and
and Farmers Welfare (MoA & FW), Department of Three-tier structure) functioning in the rural areas.
Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare. These PACS are owned by farmers and promote
1.3 Total Cost of the Proposed Scheme–Rs. thrift and mutual help among the members, catering
2142.50 Cr to their credit/non-credit services. The services
include input supply, storage and marketing of
1.4 Proposed duration of the Scheme – The agricultural produce etc. They also participate in
scheme would be implemented in a phased manner Government sponsored citizen/farmer welfare
in the next three years from 2018-19 to 2020-21. services such as procurement of food grains, Public
The year wise phasing for the computerization of Distribution System (PDS), distribution of agri-
63,000 functional PACS is tabulated below. inputs etc.
In this process, a PACS engages itself in a wide range
Year Total No of PACS to
be computerized of businesses such as sale of Fertilizer, seed and
Year II 2018-19 13,000 pesticides, running of Ration Shops (PDS), credit
Year III 2019-20 20,000 products, saving products, thrift, micro credit, super
market, custom hiring of farm equipment, provision
Year IV 2020-21 30,000
Handholding support of 3 years has been
of storage for agricultural produce and other allied
provided in the project. Hand holding support for business.
the PACS which are migrated in the 3rd year of the The members of PACS typically belong to villages
project will continue upto 2022-23. around PACS and surrounding areas. The work of
Total 63,000 Co-operative societies is limited to its identified
village and the loans are extended to the members.
The baseline data on PACS available with the DCCBs The loans are provided for medium and short-
and the Co-operation Department of the respective term purposes.
states will be the reference point for benchmarking
the outcome. As per the NAFSCOB data, there are 92,789 PACS
in India as on 31 March 2015. PACS have been
classified as viable, potentially viable, dormant
and defunct based on their financial position.
As per the classification, a potentially viable PACS
would move to viable category within reasonable
period of time. However, dormant PACS have
some chance of revival and defunct PACS have no
chances of revival. As per the NAFSCOB data, out
of the total functional PACS, 67,016 are viable,
19,929 are potentially viable, 2,821 are dormant,
1,590 are defunct and 1,433 PACS belong to
others. Hence, 86,945 or approximately 87,000
PACS can be taken up for computerization. It is
C-PEC participants on study visit to Anurakala PACS,
Chinhat, Lucknow,UP prudent to take up the 67,000 viable PACS for
computerization in the initial phase. However,
1.5. Computerization of PACS- PACS computerization has been initiated by few
Background States. Therefore, estimated 63,000 viable PACS
As per the census 2011 data, there are 6,40,867 which are yet to be computerized are proposed to
villages in India out of which 5,97,608 are be taken up for computerization.
inhabited. Considering the number of PACS i.e.,
92,789 PACS, which works out to roughly one These societies predominantly take care of the
PACS per seven villages. The societies have, agricultural credit requirement, farming services

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etc. of the vulnerable sections of the farmers, of the STCCS does not take the opportunity, it may
particularly, the small and marginal farmers and lead to drastic reduction of their business as
other weaker sections. Regional Rural Banks (RRBs), Payment Banks and
Small Finance Banks, Postal Bank etc., are
1.6. Problems faced by PACS and Why
increasingly looking to tap into the customer base of
computerization?
PACS. It is critical that the lowest tier of the STCCS
i. Inadequacies and inaccuracies of the book- embraces Information Technology (IT), as any
keeping. Inability to have standard book reform in the structure must be necessarily initiated
keeping practices resulting in fraud and at the base to reach the farmers.
embezzlement cases. 1.8. The computerization of PACS: Policy
ii. Lack of standard reporting to District Central Issues
Cooperative Bank (DCCB)/Apex Bank. In Policy readiness of the Cooperatives and PACS to
absence of authentic book keeping practices, computerization:
the reports generated for policy making are a) Since DCCBs/StCBs are legally a bank
under BR Act whereas PACS are a society
mostly inadequate.
and integrating systems of a society with
iii. Information as required by other institutions the system of a bank may have policy
from the societies is in non-standard format issues.
hence are time consuming and cumbersome. b) Specifications readiness
iv. Inability to do multiple businesses different c) State level IT Policy
from basic activities which otherwise can d) Security issues
enhance profitability of the societies. 1.9. The computerization of PACS:
v. Difficult to maintain the Stock inventory Operational Issues:
manually for fertilizers, seeds, pesticides, 1. Sensitization of :
food grains, etc. a) The users of the PACS services.
vi. Lack of transparency and accountability. b) Secretary and data entry operators at PACS
level which have an average age of 50+
1.7. Improving business of PACS through years and hesitant in using new
computerization technology.
2. Site readiness – Standard configurations and
Information Technology (IT) could be a facilitator non-technical parameters.
to address the problems as stated above and also 3. Human resource readiness - Capacity
may help achieve the following: building of the Society Secretary and Data
i. Digitization of manual data/transactions Entry Operator at the society level.
ii. Ensure application of standard business It is always found that PACS are out of staff
process and practices; or one PACS secretary is looking after more
iii. Increase efficiency and thus reduce than one PACS. If employees are available
inherent delays; they are not able to operate computers so
iv. Efficient use of Ru-Pay Kisan Cards before computerization we must ensure
issued by banks; there must be proper number of skilled staff.
v. Timely PMFBY data upload; Skill set required to handle computer are:-
vi. Facilitate in integrating wide range of
services;  Basic understanding of computers; which
vii. Bring transparency and accountability; includes introduction to computers,
viii. Support in establishing MIS for working knowledge on MS-Office,
governance; especially in WORD and Excel, internet
ix. Monitor, determine and prevent leakages handling and basic connectivity issues,
and imbalances in the system; power issues and the issues comes during
x. Enhanced ability to maintain error free the operation period of computers like
stock inventory at PACS level. loose connection etc.-this training can be
The financial world has already embraced the provided by the different training institutes
technological revolution and is reaping the benefits available at nearby locations.
in terms of greater customer satisfaction, numerous  Operational knowledge of PACS software-
business channels, customer retention, customized This training is provided by the software
products, credit history etc. Hence, adoption of vendor which requires the hand holding
technology is no longer a matter of choice. If this tier

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 support till the day book generation/trial i. The scheme envisages computerization of the
balance generation. activities undertaken by the PACS mainly
4. Data readiness to facilitate computerization, focusing on Agriculture and allied activities
data purification and migration audit, related to credit/non-credit business.
whether the data formats are defined by
ii. The process will include digitization of existing
specific authority?
manual data.
5. Security issues and backup, safety of data,
whether software is suited to day to day iii. It will also include supply of necessary computer
activities which is inclined towards non- hardware, software, connectivity, etc. The
credit activity. software will be installed in these PACS and
6. Business continuity Plan including- training on the software will be provided to the
technical, proper system audit, Vulnerability users.
assessment & penetration system [VAPT]
iv. Post this, each of the PACS will have handholding
and Financial [first year assistance and
support in cluster mode for 3 years i.e. for the first
thereafter provisions for AMC/salary of
year, one support person for 12 PACS and for 2nd
extension agencies, computer operator/SMS
& 3rd year one support person for a cluster of 24
alert system etc.
PACS. Some DCCB staff will additionally be
1.10. PACS identification criteria for
trained as master trainers to take responsibility
computerization, the identified PACS should be
for hand holding of PACS in their area.
functional. Functional PACS are defined as:
v. Setting up of National core data center where all
 PACS doing agri-credit business data is available for various usage. All data will be
 PACS having its own or rented Pucca premises available at the end of previous day. The data
 The PACS should be managed by Paid Secretary would be used to generate Management
Taking the above definition into account the Information System (MIS) at PACS, DCCB, State
following conditions may be laid down for and National Levels, which would serve the
prioritization of PACS institutions at various levels.
vi. To bring these PACS on a uniform platform, for
 PACS should have disbursed agri-credit during
Common Accounting System (CAS), MIS etc.,
2016-17 independent of the nature of software being used
 Availability of telecom data network by the PACS.
 The State government will ensure supply of
vii. Once implemented, the scheme will be
power to the selected PACS, in case the PACS are
beneficial for the farmers across the country as
not having electricity supply. they will be able to avail the benefits of PACS
 The audit of PACS should have been completed computerization in the form of faster credit
upto 2015-16. scrutiny, appraisal and disbursement, RuPay card
 The StCB will form implementation cell with IT transaction etc.
qualified manpower. (The article represents the future road map for
 The DCCB should have necessary IT manpower Computerization of PACS as expressed by Ministry of
to implement the project. Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (MoA & FW),
Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers
 PACS would strive to employ local computer Welfare (Credit Division), Government of India in its
literate person to ensure smooth operations. Circular F. No. 6-14/2015-Credit-I (Vol-II). Further, the
article was refined by Dr. Sudhanshu K. K. Mishra,
1.11. Outcomes & Way Forward: The outcome DGM, BIRD in light of the discussions held over Video
of the project is computerization of 63,000 Conference with CTI’s: ICM, Trivandrum; RICM,
functional PACS across the country. Bangalore; ACSTI, Lucknow; ACSTI, Bhubaneswar &
CTI, Telangana)

Chief Editor: Smt T. S. Raji Gain; Editor: Shri. Raj Kumar, Joint Director; Editorial Board: Team C-PEC
Disclaimer: The information contained in this newsletter is for general information purposes only. While we endeavor to keep the
information up to date and correct, we make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness,
accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability with respect to the newsletter or the information, products, services, or related graphics
contained on the website for any purpose.
Contact us: C-PEC, BIRD, Sector-H, LDA Colony, Kanpur Road, Lucknow – 226012 Uttar Pradesh, India.
Ph. + 91-522-2421799 Email: cpecforccs@gmail.com, bird@nabard.org, Website: www.bird-cpec.org

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