Cooperatives are the mainstay of the rural economy ensuring sustainable livelihoods and income for people. There are 8.5 lakh cooperatives in India, out of which 1.77 lakh (about 20%) are credit cooperatives and the remaining 80% are non-credit cooperatives engaged in various activities. The cooperative movement has fostered a membership of more than 29 crores with a network stretching through the entire length and breadth of India. The cooperatives play a significant role in growth and development of various sectors by generating employment and income, for examples - Dairy (1,77,314 Co-operatives with turnover of Rs. 93,556 crores), Housing (28,945 Co-operatives with Loans Disbursed of Rs. 12,711 crores), Labour (46,818 Co-operatives with Membership of 27,30,000), Fertilizers (Co-operatives producing 20% of total Fertiliser in country), Fisheries (20,804 Co-operatives with membership of 32 lakhs), Sugar (188 Sugar Factories with Production of 35% of total Sugar produce), Agro- processing etc. Also Credit Cooperatives are key to ensuring financial inclusiveness in the country by disbursing credit to marginal sectors. These milestones have been achieved through a network of 21 national-level, 390 state-level, and 2705 district-level cooperative federations in the country.

The new Ministry of Cooperation has been set up by the Government of India by notification dated 06.07.2021 with the mandate of realization of vision “Sahakar se Samriddhi”, strengthening of cooperative movement in the country, deepening its reach up to the grassroots, creation of appropriate policy, legal and institutional framework to help cooperatives realize their potential, etc. As one of the major steps to fulfil the above mandate, the Ministry is in process of formulating a new cooperation policy, since the existing policy was formulated way back in 2002. The new policy would address the challenges faced by the sector in today’s world.

The new cooperation policy is being formulated in consultation with all the stakeholders. The Ministry has received many valuable inputs and suggestions from the State Governments, Central Ministries, Federations and Institutions. A national conference with State Governments and the Central Ministries was also held on 12-13 April, 2022 at Delhi. The Ministry is also in the process of holding a series of stake holder consultations for formulation of new cooperation policy.

As a part of this consultation, the Ministry is inviting your valuable inputs/ suggestion for formulating the national cooperation policy under various themes.

Kindly share your suggestions as per the following Categories :
i. Cooperative Governance
ii. Legal and Regulatory Framework
iii. Training Education and HR Policy
iv. Cooperatives to be Vibrant Economic Units
v. Setting New Cooperatives, Sustainable Development of Cooperative
vi. Diversification of Cooperatives/ Social Cooperatives

The last date to receive suggestions is 15 June,2022