The Technical Efficiency of Industrial Co-operative Societies in India

Industrial Cooperatives have been organised with two objectives namely social and economic upliftment of the people living below the poverty line. The most important social objective is to safeguard the interest of the poorest sections against exploitative trends and to pave way for diffusions and dispersal of wealth. The economic objective of these societies is to create employment opportunities for the people by increasing the production and productivity of the units and to inculcate competitive capability and acceleration in the field of Trade and Industries. Industrial Co-operatives play a vital role in providing gainful employment to the weaker sections including rural artisans, workers and labourers. They also help the farmers cultivating tea and tapioca to get reasonable rate for their produce. Besides, micro and small scale entrepreneurs are also helped by provision of work sheds, developed plots and infrastructural facilities to run their industries. Such industrial co-operative societies around 322 have been organized in important trades like tea, sago, matches, coir, banking, polythene, handicrafts, tailoring, auto service,industrial estates, engineering,bricks etc.