Speaking at a conference to mark the centenary celebrations of cooperatives in the country, agriculture minister Sharad Pawar said many factors contributed to the losses.

"Today the cooperative banks have estimated total accumulated losses of Rs 15,000 crore", he said, adding though cooperative banks and societies have played an important role in agriculture and rural development, they were currently facing problems.

"Some of the problems, which need to be addressed are imbalances, small resource base, poor credit discipline, absence of professionalisation and democratic management", Pawar said.

On the crisis in the sugar industry, he said around 111 cooperative sugar mills out of the 310 installed cooperatives factories are facing sickness.

"We have set up a committee for revitalisation of sugar industry. The recommendations on a package for revitalisation of the industry to make it vibrant, self-sustaining and globally competitive are expected shortly", he said.

As far as spinning mills are concerned, Pawar said 77 of the 159 spinning mills in the country were closed and another 55 were on verge of closure.

He said the National Cooperative Development Corporation hoped to launch a rehabilitation scheme for these and other cooperatives in the agro-processing sector.