SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh received no financial assistance from the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) for women cooperatives during the five years from 2021-22 to 2025-26, according to data furnished by the Union Ministry of Cooperation in the Rajya Sabha.
The state-wise data presented by the Ministry show no NCDC funding for women cooperatives in Jammu and Kashmir or Ladakh in any of the five years covered. The two Union Territories were also not listed among the recipients in the annexure detailing financial assistance.
The figures contrast with funding provided to several other states, with Andhra Pradesh receiving the highest cumulative assistance of Rs 8,180.15 crore over the five-year period, followed by Telangana at Rs 1,290.17 crore, Rajasthan at Rs 190.60 crore and Maharashtra at Rs 60 crore.
The Union Government provided a total of Rs 9,750.92 crore in financial assistance to women cooperatives across the listed states during the five years. With no allocation recorded for Jammu and Kashmir or Ladakh, their combined share was zero, placing them among the states and Union Territories that received no NCDC assistance under the data supplied to Parliament.
The Ministry said the NCDC, a statutory organisation under the administrative control of the Ministry of Cooperation, implements various schemes supporting women-led and self-help group-linked cooperatives.
These include the Swayam Shakti Sahakar Yojana, which provides financial assistance for income-generating activities, entrepreneurship development and capacity building of women-led self-help groups; the Nandini Sahakar Scheme, which provides financial support exclusively to women-led cooperative societies engaged in sectors including dairy, livestock and food processing; and the Yuva Sahakar Yojana, which encourages young women entrepreneurs to establish and manage cooperative enterprises in emerging and innovative sectors.
Under Yuva Sahakar, the Ministry said women-led cooperative societies receive a 2 per cent interest subvention on the interest rate applicable to term loans, while the societies are required to contribute only 20 per cent of the project cost.
The NCDC provides working capital loans for one to two years, margin money assistance for five years and term loans for up to eight years to women cooperatives. Assistance may be provided through state governments or directly by the NCDC.
For direct financing, the Ministry said a cooperative must have been operational for at least three years and have a positive net worth, with its net worth not less than 100 per cent of paid-up share capital, meaning there should be no erosion of the paid-up share capital.
However, women cooperatives operational for at least three months can also receive assistance under the Yuva Sahakar scheme, according to the Ministry.
The data show that Andhra Pradesh received Rs 795 crore in 2021-22, Rs 1,385.15 crore in 2022-23, Rs 700 crore in 2023-24, Rs 1,100 crore in 2024-25 and Rs 4,200 crore in 2025-26. Telangana received Rs 495.06 crore, Rs 50 crore, Rs 0.05 crore, Rs 245.06 crore and Rs 500 crore respectively during the same period.
Maharashtra received Rs 5 crore in 2021-22, Rs 10 crore each in 2023-24 and 2024-25, and Rs 35 crore in 2025-26, while Rajasthan received Rs 190.16 crore in 2025-26 after recording Rs 0.44 crore in 2023-24.
Tamil Nadu, specifically asked about along with Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala, received Rs 0.13 crore in 2021-22, Rs 0.06 crore in 2022-23 and Rs 0.58 crore in 2023-24, with no funding recorded in the subsequent two years. Karnataka received Rs 0.20 crore in 2022-23, while Kerala received Rs 0.03 crore in 2022-23 and Rs 0.02 crore in 2025-26.
The Union Government’s reply did not provide any separate national average or population-adjusted comparison for financial assistance to women cooperatives. Therefore, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh cannot be ranked against a national average on a per-capita basis from the data available.
The information was provided by Union Minister for Cooperation Amit Shah in response to Rajya Sabha Unstarred Question No. 1123, to be answered on July 29, 2026.
