Karnataka has made tremendous progress in the Cooperative Sector

After Gujarat and Maharastra, Karnataka occupies occupies third position in the co-operative movement in India and has made tremendous progress in the Cooperative Sector. As on 31.3.2010 there are 34,927 societies enrolled with the Registrar of Co-operative Societies of which 30,093 are functioning, 2,710 are defunct and the remaining 2,124 under liquidation.

When it comes to profit, societies registered in Mangalore stands first among Districts which are running profitably namely Kodagu, DK, Udupi, Karwar, Belgaum, Bijapur and Bagalkote. Comparatively, profit margins of societies registered in Mysore is less.

In all there are 8,235 co-operative societies in Mysore, Chamarajanagar, Mandya, Hassan, Chikmagalore, Kodagu, Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts, of which 4,133 are running under profit, 2315 under loss and the remaining 1,787 are average out.

In Mysore a total of 1,881 co-operative societies are registered, of which 904 are under profit, 639 under loss and 338 are average out. According to sources from the Co-operative Society Officers, the reason is existence of about 200 odd-consumer societies which are not performing well and also due to loss in consumer sector / marketing sector and processing sector.

Aaccording to the Department officials, the reason for Mangalore recording the highest profit in this sector is because in Mangalore the member participation is quite high and they are also prompt in making re-payment of loans borrowed from the society, which is not the same in other areas.

Sector wise it is the milk sector that records the highest profit among all the co-operative societies Even in rural areas societies registered under Public Distribution System and Handicrafts are running under loss mainly due to lack of active participation by its members. While credit activities and urban banking in big cities like Bangalore are running under profit while Consumer goods sector, Marketing Sector and Processing sector, including the Mahila Multi-Purpose Society are running under loss.

Co-operative movement in India
The Co-operative Movement in India took its birth in 1904 with the enactment of Co-operative Societies Act 1904. The first Co-operative society to be registered under this Act was in 1905 at Kanaginahal village in Gadag district.
The Mysore Co-operative Societies Act 1959 is the first legislation in our state pertaining to the co-operative societies which came into effect on 25-05-1960.