Title: Good Governance practices and competitiveness in cooperatives: An analytical study of Kerala Primary agricultural credit societies

Abstract

The cooperative societies play an important role in rural development and financing. The cooperative movement was started with a view to uplift agricultural operations. Among them, Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) are at the grass-root level of cooperative credit structure and form the largest number of Cooperative institutions in India. The performance of PACS entirely depends upon how it is being governed and the increasing size of PACS acts as an indicator of competitive enhancement. Thus, bringing good governance and its impression on competitiveness into the cooperative operating system. The study follows select PACS in Kerala and provides insight into their governance practices and its relationship with competitiveness. The study adopts a descriptive-analytical approach with a blend of primary as well as secondary data. The research study concludes that participation, accountability, and transparency are the effective pillars of cooperative governance in the presence of diversification strategy which further leads to improved competitive performance of Kerala's primary agricultural credit society. The competitive process led by good governance has been demonstrated as a key determinant for the growth and development of the cooperatives. The practices of PACS in Kerala enhance the reputation and stakeholder value of the firm in the long run. This further improves their productivity and enhances their capability to produce goods and services, which presents as a competitive growth. The study proves that the system of governance should not be rigid and imposed on firms, rather be flexible and adaptive to each situation.