Research Article
Are Innovative Cooperatives More Financially Sustainable? Evidence from Primary Agricultural Credit Societies in Kerala, India
@INPROCEEDINGS{10.4108/eai.1-10-2020.2304908, author={Devi Sekhar R and Sony Vijayan}, title={Are Innovative Cooperatives More Financially Sustainable? Evidence from Primary Agricultural Credit Societies in Kerala, India}, proceedings={Proceedings of the First International Conference of Economics, Business \& Entrepreneurship, ICEBE 2020, 1st October 2020, Tangerang, Indonesia}, publisher={EAI}, proceedings_a={ICEBE}, year={2021}, month={4}, keywords={financial sustainability innovation primary agricultural credit cooperatives}, doi={10.4108/eai.1-10-2020.2304908} }- Devi Sekhar R
Sony Vijayan
Year: 2021
Are Innovative Cooperatives More Financially Sustainable? Evidence from Primary Agricultural Credit Societies in Kerala, India
ICEBE
EAI
DOI: 10.4108/eai.1-10-2020.2304908
Abstract
In India, the financial cooperatives, especially Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) play a major role in bringing rural and low-income population to the formal banking system. But among 95,238 PACS, only 68% are financially viable and attaining financial sustainability remains to be a major challenge. Kerala is a state with more than 60% of its total population as members in PACS and possesses a relatively better cooperative credit system in comparison to other states. The cooperative movement in India is more than 100 years old and during this period the economy has undergone drastic changes. In this context, this paper intends to find out whether innovative cooperatives are more financially sustainable. The empirical analysis shows that only 10% of the cooperatives are financially sustainable among the selected samples. From the cases discussed, it is observed that the cooperatives which collaborate innovation with their social objectives are more sustainable
