This page is informational and is not legal advice. It describes rules, orders and rulings as published or reported on the dates shown; read the primary text before relying on any of it.
The Registrar of Co-operative Societies is the state government official, or, for societies operating across state lines, the Central Registrar of Co-operative Societies, who regulates a co-operative society under the relevant co-operative societies Act. A credit co-operative society, a patpedhi and a Souharda co-operative all answer to a state Registrar; a multi-state credit co-operative society answers to the Central Registrar under the Multi-State Co-operative Societies Act, as amended in 2023.
This matters for a pigmy or daily-deposit depositor because it draws the exact line the Reserve Bank of India does not cross. RBI's doorstep banking rules, the receipt, the same-day or next-working-day credit, the disclosed charges, bind co-operative banks, which RBI regulates jointly with a Registrar. They do not bind a credit society, a patpedhi or a Souharda co-operative, which the Registrar regulates alone. Commission caps on pigmy agents follow the same split: Maharashtra's Cooperation Department, acting through its Registrar function, capped agent commission for credit co-operatives in that state; RBI sets no such cap for banks, requiring only a Board-approved policy.
The Multi-State Co-operative Societies (Amendment) Act 2023 added a Co-operative Election Authority and a Co-operative Ombudsman with a three-month grievance timeline for societies the Central Registrar covers, alongside a fund for rehabilitating sick societies. None of this brings a society under RBI's banking supervision or under DICGC insurance; it strengthens governance of the co-operative, not the depositor's protection as a bank customer.