NCDC Digital Sahakar Scheme

What is the NCDC Digital Sahakar scheme?

Digital Sahakar is a focused financial assistance framework of the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) for digitally supported cooperatives. According to NCDC's Pattern of Assistance annexure, the scheme was conceived in alignment with the principles of Digital India and provides hand-holding and credit linkage by NCDC, dovetailed with grant, subsidy and incentives from the Government of India, State Governments, UT Administrations or agencies, with the objective of cooperatives actively partaking in Digital India.

NCDC is a statutory corporation created by an Act of Parliament in 1963 and works under the administrative control of the Ministry of Cooperation. It lends from its own funds without budgetary support from the government, which is why Digital Sahakar is structured as credit with an optional dovetailed subsidy rather than as a grant scheme.

The practical problem Digital Sahakar addresses is that most primary cooperatives run on paper. A society that computerises its books, moves member accounts online, installs point-of-sale and inventory systems, or connects to a state or national cooperative software platform gains three things NCDC cares about: auditable accounts, faster access to institutional credit, and the ability to receive government grants, subsidies and incentives smoothly rather than through manual claims.

Who is eligible for Digital Sahakar?

A society can apply if:

• It is a cooperative society registered under any State or Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act in the country.
• It is a Farmer Producer Organisation (FPO), a Fish Farmer Producer Organisation (FFPO) or a federated SHG cooperative, all of which NCDC lists as eligible under this scheme.
• Its bye-laws permit borrowing and the proposed activity.
• Under NCDC's separate norms for direct funding, the society has a positive net worth with share capital not eroded, has completed its audit up to the previous year within six months of the close of the financial year, and has no major default in repayment to NCDC, banks or financial institutions.

Who cannot apply:

• Individuals, proprietorships, partnership firms, trusts and private companies cannot apply. NCDC's mandate is cooperative institutions, so an IT vendor or a private software firm has no route into this scheme as a borrower.
• An unregistered collective, or a self-help group that has not federated into a registered cooperative, is not eligible.
• A society whose share capital is eroded, whose audit is in arrears, or which is in major default to a lender is not eligible for direct funding, though it may still be funded through the State Government channel if the state is willing to take the loan and on-lend.

NCDC states in its general criteria that mere fulfilment of eligibility does not entitle a cooperative to funding. Each proposal is appraised on technical feasibility and financial viability, the financial soundness of the society, its past operational record, the professional expertise of its management, its experience with similar projects, its repayment record, its capacity to raise its own share of project cost, and the adequacy of security.

How much assistance does Digital Sahakar provide?

NCDC does not publish a fixed rupee ceiling for the Digital Sahakar loan itself. The published limit is on project cost, tied to how long the applicant society has been operating:

Loan period can be up to 5 to 8 years, including 1 to 2 years of moratorium on payment of principal. The moratorium matters for a digitalisation project, because software and hardware take months to install and stabilise before they produce any saving or new revenue.

Rate of interest is the rate notified by NCDC from time to time. The scheme document deliberately does not print a number, since NCDC revises its lending rates with market conditions. Get the rate in writing from the Regional Office before you build your repayment schedule.

Mode of assistance is either direct funding by NCDC to the cooperative, or funding routed through the State Government or UT Administration, which then passes the money on to the society.

Subsidy is not built into Digital Sahakar. NCDC states that subsidy under the flagship schemes of the Government of India or any other source will be applicable if the project is eligible for it. NCDC's general criteria add an important restriction: schemes may be dovetailed, but only one central subsidy is available for a project, while a State Government may contribute subsidy from its own resources in addition.

How to apply for the NCDC Digital Sahakar scheme

1. Check registration and bye-laws. Confirm the society is registered under a State or Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act and that its bye-laws allow it to borrow and to undertake the proposed digitalisation.
2. Pass a board resolution approving the project, the amount to be borrowed and the person authorised to sign the application and loan documents.
3. Prepare the project report. Itemise hardware, software licences, connectivity, data migration, staff training and annual maintenance, and show how the society will service the loan — through fee income, better recovery, lower leakage or higher turnover.
4. Get the accounts in order. Complete the audit up to the previous financial year and check that paid-up share capital is intact, since both are tested under NCDC's direct funding norms.
5. Decide the security you can offer, mortgage of assets, pledged FDRs, or a government or bank guarantee, and keep the title documents ready.
6. Submit the proposal to your NCDC Regional Office, or route it through the State Government or UT Administration if you prefer the state channel. NCDC has 18 Regional Offices in addition to its Head Office at 4, Siri Institutional Area, Hauz Khas, New Delhi 110016.
7. Respond to the appraisal. NCDC will raise queries on viability, security and the society's finances before sanction; answer them with documents rather than assurances.
8. Execute the loan documents after sanction and draw funds as per the release letter.

NCDC does not currently run a public online application portal for this scheme. The general loan application form is available on ncdc.in, and the Regional Office confirms the filing channel and the list of enclosures for your state.

What security does NCDC require?

The scheme text for Digital Sahakar says simply that the cooperative society may offer security for the loan to the satisfaction of NCDC. In practice NCDC applies its general security norms:

• Assets mortgaged to NCDC should carry a security margin of not less than 1.25 to 1.5 times the loan.
• A shortfall in security can be covered by a scheduled bank guarantee or an FDR endorsed in favour of NCDC; for FDR security the margin may be 1.1 times.
• Working capital loans may be secured by hypothecation of stocks, debtors or other assets with a minimum margin of 20 per cent.
• Guarantees from the State or Central Government, central PSUs, statutory bodies, CSR foundations of central PSUs, SFAC, NEDFi or SIDBI are accepted.

Common reasons Digital Sahakar proposals fail

• Audit arrears. The single most common blocker for a primary cooperative, and ironically often the very problem digitalisation is meant to fix.
• Eroded share capital or a negative net worth, which disqualifies the society from direct funding.
• A cost-only project report. A quotation for computers is not a project report; NCDC needs the revenue or saving that repays the loan.
• No repayment source. A digitalisation project rarely generates new cash on its own, so the proposal must show the society's existing business servicing the instalments.
• Inadequate security for the amount sought.
• Default history of the society, or of another cooperative sharing the same directors.

Is Digital Sahakar still operational?

Yes. Digital Sahakar is listed as scheme H in NCDC's Pattern of Assistance annexure dated July 2025, alongside Ayushman Sahakar, Nandini Sahakar, Dairy Sahakar and Swayam Shakti Sahakar, with its eligibility, project cost table, loan period, interest and security provisions unchanged. NCDC has not announced any closing date for the framework. Because NCDC funds it from its own resources, the scheme does not depend on an annual budget allocation and has no sunset date of the kind attached to centrally sponsored missions.

One clarification is worth making, because readers regularly conflate the two. Digital Sahakar is not the PACS computerisation project. Computerisation of Primary Agricultural Credit Societies is a separate centrally sponsored project of the Ministry of Cooperation, implemented through NABARD and the state governments, under which PACS get hardware and common national software. Digital Sahakar is an NCDC loan any eligible cooperative can seek for its own digitalisation plan. A PACS may be covered by either or both, but the application routes, the paperwork and the funding character, grant versus loan, are different.

Help and grievance redressal

• NCDC Head Office: 4, Siri Institutional Area, Hauz Khas, New Delhi 110016
• Phone: 011-20862512 and 011-20862866
• Email: mail@ncdc.in
• Regional Offices: addresses and phone numbers for all 18 offices are on ncdc.in

There is no application fee to approach NCDC and no agent can arrange a sanction. Every proposal passes through NCDC's appraisal and due diligence before a rupee is released.

How to check your application status

Digital Sahakar has no online tracking portal and no application ID system published on ncdc.in, so status checking is entirely offline and relationship-driven with the Regional Office that received the proposal.

1. Identify the right office. Status can only be confirmed by the NCDC Regional Office where the society (or the State Government channel) filed the proposal, since NCDC has 18 Regional Offices and each appraises the proposals in its own territory. Calling the Head Office in Delhi for a proposal filed at a Regional Office usually just gets redirected back to that office.
2. Reference your file by proposal date and society name, not by a portal-generated number. Keep a copy of the covering letter and the date of submission; the Regional Office logs proposals against the society's name and the date received, not an online token.
3. Ask specifically what stage the file is at, because NCDC appraisal has distinct stages: receipt and completeness check, technical and financial appraisal, a possible query letter back to the society, sanction, and then documentation and disbursal. Knowing the stage tells you what to do next, for instance whether NCDC is waiting on you to answer a query or whether the file is still with the appraising officer.
4. If the proposal was routed through the State Government or UT Administration rather than filed directly, first check status with the state cooperation department that forwarded it, since the state may be holding the file before it even reaches NCDC, or holding NCDC's sanction before it reaches the society.
5. Follow up in writing (letter or email to mail@ncdc.in) if a phone call does not get a clear answer, and keep a copy. A written follow-up referencing the date of submission and the officer last spoken to gives the Regional Office something concrete to trace.
6. Watch for a query letter from NCDC as the most common cause of an apparently stalled file. Appraisal frequently pauses on a request for additional documents, a revised project report, or clarification on security, and the file will not move until the society replies.

There is no SMS or portal-based alert for this scheme, so a society should build in a periodic phone or email check-in with the Regional Office, particularly after the first 4 to 6 weeks following submission, rather than waiting to be contacted.