Primary Agricultural Credit Societies

• PACS are the village-level grassroots tier of India's three-tier short-term cooperative credit structure (PACS → DCCBs → StCBs), providing crop loans, inputs, and allied services to farmers.
• They are the largest cooperative network in India by number, the primary conduit for Kisan Credit Card (KCC) crop loans and now being repurposed as Multipurpose PACS (M-PACS) to deliver 25+ services.
• UPSC relevance: GS-III (Agriculture credit, cooperatives, rural economy) and GS-II (cooperatives as a constitutional subject post-97th Amendment; Ministry of Cooperation).