NEW DELHI: The cooperative sector in India has seen 20 new initiatives in the last 20 months since the formation of the ministry of cooperation in July 2021.
Enlisting the initiatives of the central government, Minister of Interior and Cooperation Amit Shah in his written response to Parliament Tuesday’s questions said they would “strengthen India’s cooperative architecture, synchronizing it with the country’s economic and social needs.”
Initiatives include the creation of new multistate cooperative societies (MSCS) for major agricultural operations; computerization of primary agricultural credit companies (PACS) with an outlay of Rs 2,516 crore; expand the scope of the PACS to carry out as many as 25 services or non-agricultural business activities such as water distribution and petrol/LPG/green energy distribution; creation of a national cooperative database; create a national cooperative policy; and take tax relief measures to help the industry.
Currently, there are around 8.5 lakh cooperatives in the country with around 29 million members, mostly from rural India. As for new multi-state cooperative societies, the country has seen 92 formed in the past three years, including 68 in 2022 alone. Nearly a third (30) of the total were formed in Maharashtra, followed by 19 in Uttar Pradesh and 10 in Kerala.
Responding to a question on forming a specific policy for promoting cooperation, Shah informed the Lok Sabha that his ministry has taken on the formulation of a new national cooperation policy to help realize the vision of ‘sahakar se samriddhi’ ( prosperity through cooperation), promoting the cooperation-based model of economic development, strengthening the cooperative movement in the country, and deepening its reach to the grassroots.
He said a nationwide committee, chaired by Suresh Prabhu (former Union Minister) and composed of cooperative sector experts, representatives of national/state/district/primary level cooperative societies, has been working since September last year to formulate the draft of the new policy based on suggestions and feedback from various stakeholders.
Lowering of the tax rate for new cooperatives, as announced in the 2023-24 Union Budget; the reduction of the surcharge on cooperatives and the possibility for cooperatives to register as a “buyer” on the GeM portal for national public procurement are some of the other initiatives in the list of 20.
Enlisting the initiatives of the central government, Minister of Interior and Cooperation Amit Shah in his written response to Parliament Tuesday’s questions said they would “strengthen India’s cooperative architecture, synchronizing it with the country’s economic and social needs.”
Initiatives include the creation of new multistate cooperative societies (MSCS) for major agricultural operations; computerization of primary agricultural credit companies (PACS) with an outlay of Rs 2,516 crore; expand the scope of the PACS to carry out as many as 25 services or non-agricultural business activities such as water distribution and petrol/LPG/green energy distribution; creation of a national cooperative database; create a national cooperative policy; and take tax relief measures to help the industry.
Currently, there are around 8.5 lakh cooperatives in the country with around 29 million members, mostly from rural India. As for new multi-state cooperative societies, the country has seen 92 formed in the past three years, including 68 in 2022 alone. Nearly a third (30) of the total were formed in Maharashtra, followed by 19 in Uttar Pradesh and 10 in Kerala.
Responding to a question on forming a specific policy for promoting cooperation, Shah informed the Lok Sabha that his ministry has taken on the formulation of a new national cooperation policy to help realize the vision of ‘sahakar se samriddhi’ ( prosperity through cooperation), promoting the cooperation-based model of economic development, strengthening the cooperative movement in the country, and deepening its reach to the grassroots.
He said a nationwide committee, chaired by Suresh Prabhu (former Union Minister) and composed of cooperative sector experts, representatives of national/state/district/primary level cooperative societies, has been working since September last year to formulate the draft of the new policy based on suggestions and feedback from various stakeholders.
Lowering of the tax rate for new cooperatives, as announced in the 2023-24 Union Budget; the reduction of the surcharge on cooperatives and the possibility for cooperatives to register as a “buyer” on the GeM portal for national public procurement are some of the other initiatives in the list of 20.
