19

Cooperatives

M.K. Sukumaran Nair & C.Padmini


1.0. Introduction

The cooperatives, as institutions of mutual help, provide livelihood to the underemployed and the marginalised. In India, over 13.8 million jobs have been created by cooperatives of which 92 % are in worker cooperatives as self-employment. (Mohanan H, 1998). According to the International Cooperative Alliance (1999), India has the largest number of cooperatives with 1829 lakh members, followed by China with 1403 lakh. Of the total members in India, about 0.7 million are women.

2.0. Coverage of Cooperatives

In the pre-Independence period, the cooperative movement in India was largely confined to credit societies. After Independence, the state began to play an enhanced promotional role. This paved the way for the diversification of cooperatives into a wide range of other activities coming under the non-credit societies. Today cooperatives encompass almost all areas of human activity, such as production, consumption, marketing, housing, banking, health, industry, agriculture, milk, fishery, handloom, coir etc.

3.0. Sources of Data

The major sources of data on cooperatives in Kerala are the following:

  1. NABARD


  2. Hand Book of Cooperative Movement from the Registrar of Cooperatives, Govt of Kerala.


  3. Statistical Profile of Cooperative Movement published by the Ministry of Agriculture, Department of Agriculture and Cooperation , Govt of India


  4. Economic Review , Govt. of Kerala,


  5. Directorate of Handloom and Textiles, Govt. of Kerala


  6. Directorate of Coir Development, Govt. of Kerala


  7. Audit Notes (Unpublished data), Official Record, Govt . of Kerala
The Statistical Statement Relating to Cooperative Movement, published by NABARD, has been the major data source since 1975. Before NABARD, it was the Reserve Bank of India that used to publish data on the progress of cooperative movement in India. The RBI data used to give cover the number of societies, number of workers, total wages distributed chronologically for the country as a whole and not state-wise. The NABARD covers aspects relating to employment, wages, investment, business operation etc. It brings out data on number of units and membership, share capital, total assets and liabilities, value of production, value of sales, number of units under loss/profit / no loss/no profit and the amount thereof , loans, cost of management (salaries, rent, depreciation and other expenses), working capital, and, borrowing from other agencies.

The Handbook on 'Cooperative Movement in Kerala' issued by the Registrar of Cooperatives, covers only those units registered with the Department of cooperation. It provides information on number and membership, share capital, borrowing, working capital, value of Agriculture products and consumer products sold, number and amount of cooperatives working under profit/loss/ no loss/ no profit, and, loans.

'Statistical Profile of Cooperative Movement in India', published by the Ministry of Agriculture, Govt. of India gives the following details:

  1. Number and Members (aggregate).


  2. Working capital (aggregate).


  3. Financial and physical targets and achievements (aggregate).


  4. Allocation by NCDC for cooperative development-(state wise)..


  5. Details of NAFED and IFFCO..


  6. Details of state cooperative banks, land development banks etc.,.


  7. Data on poultry, fisheries, labor contract, weaver's cooperatives, handloom cooperatives, processing cooperatives - (in aggregate).


  8. Cooperative training and education (aggregate).


  9. Primary non-agriculture credit societies- number, paid-up capital, working capital, business operation etc.

The State Planning Board, in its 'Economic Review', provides information on the number of cooperatives and some details on the working and operational status of handloom and coir cooperatives. In respect of handloom cooperatives, data on number of looms, production of cloth, value of production, employment generated , number of weavers, and the number of women employed are given. Also are given some details regarding the working status of Hantex and Hanveev. With regard to coir cooperatives both in the yarn sector and product sector details such as number of workers, value of production, value of husk purchased, fibre purchased ,both in physical and financial terms are given. But the Economic Review is generally silent on other types of cooperatives. Further these details are obtained from the Directorates of Handlooms and Textiles and Coir Development.

Unpublished official data in the form of Audit Notes and reports contain details regarding the activities of the cooperatives available with the Assistant Registrar of Cooperatives in each Cooperative Circle functioning at the taluk level. The audit notes cover details as given below:

  1. Number of units and membership


  2. Deposits and borrowings


  3. Expenditure on establishments and contingencies


  4. Details of profit/loss


  5. Details of reserve funds (statutory and non-statutory)


  6. Total investments


  7. Value of fixed assets both movable and immovable


  8. Particulars of depreciation


  9. Particulars of grants and subsidies


  10. Loans due to and by the society


  11. Details of business activities-trading account of expenditure and receipts


  12. Profit and Loss accounts


  13. Balance sheet details


  14. Working capital

Two other sources of data are, the Report of the Committee of Evaluation (1983 and 1999) brought out, by the State Planning Board. An intertemporal comparison seems to be in jeopardy as the objectives of the two reports were different. The 1983 Report provides information, inter alia, on the working status of women industrial cooperatives as well as the socio-economic conditions of women workers. The 1998 report was purported to suggest to the Government to develop certain criteria to evaluate the women industries in the State including women industrial cooperatives. The data were gathered through questionnaires sent to the 14 DICs in the State. These reports also give many details such as: type of society, product, number of societies working/closed/sick/revived, grants availed, and employment generated.

4.0. Limitations

The database of cooperatives available in Kerala are inadequate for many types of studies. While NABARD publishes data on cooperatives both State-wise and product-wise, it does not do so trade-wise. Further, many columns in the data book are marked as "N.A" particularly in respect of statistics relating to Kerala. Similarly, the NABARD data do not provide State-wise details chronologically. More over, there seems to be a mismatch between the statistics published by NABARD and State Planning Board regarding the status of the cooperative societies. (Pyarelal Raghavan,1995). The statistics available in the Handbook published by the Department of Cooperation cover only those cooperatives that are registered with this department, which implies that data on other types of cooperatives are not reported. The Directorate of Industries and Commerce and similar departments publish only data relating to the size of societies, membership, working capital, loss/profit and sales. etc. Details on their activities, either product-wise or activity-wise, are not published. The Statistical Profile prepared by the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperation gives data regarding the primary credit cooperatives and agriculture cooperatives in aggregate form and not State-wise or product-wise. The District Industries Centre, where the industrial cooperatives are registered, publishes only information on the number of cooperatives and not on the survival rate and other production related matters. The audit reports prepared by the auditors of different regions, give data on different products year-wise. But as these data are not published , their availability on a time series and systematic basis cannot be ensured. Similarly, there is a complete absence of any data on the employment created by the cooperatives .

In order to understand the dynamics of the cooperative sector, one needs information on variables related to the financial strength ,employment generation, wages distributed , status of sick and viable units , birth and survival rate , market accessibility and raw-material availability and other production related problems. But none of the sources report any systematic data on these. Though the cooperatives cover largely the unorganized and the weaker sections of society, sufficient details to analyse their socio economic conditions in a rigorous manner is not possible for want of reliable data. It is well-known that many cooperatives are either sick or are suffering from morbidity largely due to the existence of NPHs, but there is no data available on the NPA of cooperatives. Similarly, details relating to the loans, aid and subsidies given by the state to cooperatives are not published. Though cooperatives do play a major role in the rural economy of Kerala, there is no way to assess the contribution of the cooperative sector to the state domestic product due to the non-availability of adequate data.

5.0. Conclusion

The above analysis shows that there is the problem of multiplicity of agencies collecting and documenting information on cooperatives. There are both State-level and national agencies involved in the process. A major problem is that there is no coordination between the different agencies, and hence, there often occurs inconsistencies in the data published by them. Therefore, it is suggested that an effective and viable coordinating mechanism needs to be worked out among the various agencies.

Annexe : Distribution of Cooperativesin Kerala

Sl. No.
Types of Cooperative
Number
Membership
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
36.
37.
38.
39.
40.
41.
42.
43.
 Coir Cooperative
Beedi Cooperative
Handloom
Labor Contract
Forest Labor
Weaver's
Consumer Cooperatives
Women Cooperative
Other Industrial Cooperatives
Poultry
Milk
Fisheries
Marketing (general)
Marketing (special)
Live Stock
Farming
Irrigation
Housing
Transport
Other Non-Credit
Other Non-Agriculture
Supervisory
Hospitals and Dispensaries
Social Welfare
Literary Workers
Canteen
Washerman
Chethuthozhilali
Lime shell
Insurance
Self Help Group
Neethi store
SC/ST
Autorikshaw
TaxiDriver's
Printing
Tailor's
Educational
Dairy
RAIDCO
KERAFED
Rubber
Marketing
803
22
638
392
5
585
459
387
1667
62
1861
58
250
117
68
74
18
343
95
54
1262
62
80
72
14
150
6
25
17
1
503
1040
657
53
19
73
44
95
2945
1211
936
37
115
265240
452340
463800
16000
2520
77250
293000
53182
479923
15000
474537
17359
155061
99659
9538
10386
4840
187269
9780
18291
320254
12449
28067
N.A
16729
88550
3845
2718
1500
720
31608
N.A
4209
19215
2460
10950
7200
32630
N.A
N.A
N.A
N.A
N.A

References

COOPAC (1999): Committee for the Promotion and Advancement of Cooperatives, Conference Paper.

Government of Kerala (1983): Report of the Committee of Evaluation, Man Power Series, (Trivandrum, State Planning Board).

Government of Kerala (1999): Report of the Evaluation of Committee (1999), (Trivandrum, State Planning Board).

International Cooperative Alliance (1999): Reports and Papers, Regional Seminar, New Delhi.

Pyarelal Raghavan (1995): Dynamics of Industrial Cooperatives in Kerala, Ph.D Thesis (New Delhi, JNU).