Primary Agriculture Credit Societies' Economic Impact on Gross State Domestic Product for Long-Term Agricultural Development

Abstract

Economic growth with social justice has been an important objective of Indian and state planning. The Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) is one of the important indicators to measure the economic development of the State/UT. India is an agrarian economy since decades. Indian agriculture sector accounts for 17-18% of India's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and provides employment to 60% of the country's workforce. Agriculture sector provides raw materials to industry and industry provides essential inputs to the agriculture sector and service sector plays a significant role as middle path. This sector's financial reliance has transitioned from the informal to the formal sector, which includes commercial banks, microfinance institutions, and cooperative credit organisations. The research objective of this paper is to understand the performance of Primary Agriculture Credit Societies (PACS) and to study the economic impact of the number of PACS on the Gross State Domestic Product for sustainable or long-term agricultural development. The scope of the study covers the western zone of India which includes Goa, Gujarat and Maharashtra for the last twenty-two years i.e., from 2002- 03 to 2019-20. The study is based on the secondary data: research papers and Journals, Government published documents.