UN International Year of Cooperatives: How India is Empowering its Communities

India’s relations with cooperatives date back to the time of its Independence, when Mahatma Gandhi championed the cooperative model as the means to economic empowerment and social unity. The concept of Gram Swaraj emphasised self-reliance and community participation, assets that contributed to India’s freedom struggle. Today, cooperatives continue to play a major role in India’s social and economic development.  

UN International Year of Cooperatives 2025 (IYC2025) 

The UN International Year of Cooperatives 2025 was officially launched by PM Narendra Modi in New Delhi during the ICA Global Cooperative Conference and General Assembly in November 2024. The theme Cooperatives Build a Better World, underscores the important and global role cooperatives play in addressing various global challenges. This decision is also significant as the contributions of cooperatives are important for nations to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. 

Significance of the Cooperative Sector in India

Today, India has more than 8 lakh cooperative societies in various sectors such as agriculture, dairy, fishery, banking, lending and much more. We would be remiss to not mention AMUL here- the most remarkable success story in cooperatives, whose model serves as an inspiration for implementation across different sectors and societies. In the past few years, housing cooperatives have expanded in both rural and urban areas, almost touching 1.92 lakhs total housing cooperative societies.

Cooperatives are involved in running centres providing local solutions to farmers in India, operating retail outlets of petrol and diesel, looking after the water management work, installation of solar panels, running Common Service Centres and expanding the Gobardhan Scheme. India is also on its way to create the world’s largest Grain Storage Plan in Cooperative sector by increasing infrastructure such as warehouses for agriculture and allied activities. 

Initiatives by the Indian Government to Promote Cooperatives 

• The Government of India has established a separate Ministry of Cooperation to focus on growth and strengthening of cooperative societies. 
• Cooperative banks have been brought under the purview of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to enhance transparency and accountability. 
• To protect depositors, deposit insurance coverage to ₹5 lakh per depositor is applicable for cooperative banks as well. 
• New model bye-laws have also been put in place to make co-operative societies multipurpose.
• Cooperatives at the district and state level have also been linked with Co-operative Banking Institutions. 
• Small farmers have been organised into FPOs (Farmer Producer Organizations) and also provided financial assistance to build supply and value chains to connect farms to kitchens and markets.
• Cooperatives have also been empowered to sell their products through public e-commerce platforms like Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) and Government e-Marketplace (GeM), giving them more market exposure. 

Focus on Women Empowerment

Women play a significant role in the cooperative sector, constituting more than 60% of the sector. Additionally, around 10 crore women are associated with Self-Help Groups, driving financial independence at grassroot levels. 

To ensure more participation of women in cooperatives, the Multi-State Cooperative Societies (MSCS) Act was amended in 2023 to reserve two seats for women in the Board. Model By Laws also mandate that there are women Directors in the Board of Primary Agricultural Credit Societies. Other than this, National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) also runs many exclusive schemes such as Swayam Shakti Shahakar Yojna and Nandini Sahakar to improve socio-economic status of women cooperatives. 

As the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi aptly stated, “cooperatives can give new energy to global cooperation”, it is this cooperative spirit that positions India as a global leader in fostering inclusive growth and sustainable development.