the multi state cooperative society movement in India has its origin in agriculture and allied sectors. The first credit cooperative societies Act was enacted in 1904.Subsequently a more comprehensive legislation called the cooperative societies Act was enacted. This Act provided for the creation of the post of registrar of multi state cooperative society and registration of cooperative societies for various purposes and audit. Under the Montague- Chelmsford Reforms of 1919 cooperation became a provincial subject and provinces were authorized to make their own cooperative laws. Under the Government of India Act 1935 cooperatives were treated as a provincial subject. The lsquo cooperative societies’ is a state subject under entry No 32 of the State List of the Constitution of India. In order to cover cooperative societies with membership from more than one province, the Government of India enacted the multi state society Act 1942.This Act dealt with incorporation and winding up of cooperative societies having jurisdiction in more than one province. A need was felt for a comprehensive Central legislation to consolidate laws governing cooperative societies. This led to the enactment of multi state cooperative societies Act 1984 by the Parliament under Entry No 44 of the Union List of the Constitution of India. After Independence, cooperatives assumed a great significance in poverty removal and faster socio-economic growth. They became an integral part of the Five Year Plans. As a result they emerged as a distinct segment in Indian economy. In the First Year Plan it was specifically stated that the success of the Plan would be judged among other things, by the extent it was implemented through cooperative organizations. In 1958 the National Development Council (NDC) had recommended a national policy on cooperatives. The cooperative sector has been playing a distinct and significant role in the country’s process of socio-economic development. There has been a substantial growth of this sector in diverse areas of the economy during the past few decades. The number of all types of cooperatives increased from 1.81 laky in 1950-51 to 4.53 lakh in 1996-97.The total membership of multi state cooperative societies increased from 1.55 crore to 20.45 crore in the same period. The cooperatives have been operating in various areas of the economy such as credit, production, processing, marketing, input distribution, housing, dairying and textiles. In some of the areas of their activities like dairying, urban banking and housing, sugar and handlooms, the cooperatives have achieved success to an extent but there are larger areas where they have not been so successful multi state cooperative society.