Amit Shah Inaugurates National Cooperative Database

Amit Shah, the Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation, inaugurated the National Cooperative Database on Friday, March 8, 2024, in New Delhi. The database is an online digital dashboard that will capture vital information about India’s vast cooperative sector, which comprises about 8 lakh cooperative societies across various sectors.

The launch of the database is another important initiative of the Ministry of Cooperation, which was constituted on July 6, 2021, with a mandate to strengthen the cooperative movement in the country and deepen its reach up to the grassroots level. The ministry aims to create an appropriate policy, legal and institutional framework to help cooperatives realize their potential and contribute to the economic growth and social welfare of the country.

The database will serve as a crucial tool for efficient communication between the Central Ministry, States/UTs, and Cooperative Societies, benefiting all stakeholders in the cooperative sector. It will also help in identifying gaps in terms of geographical spread of cooperative societies, information on vertical and horizontal linkages among cooperatives, and facilitate planning, policy making and implementation for all stakeholders.

The data of cooperatives was collected on the National Cooperative Database in a phased manner from various stakeholders. In the first phase, mapping of about 2.64 lakh primary cooperative societies of three sectors i.e. Primary Agriculture Credit Societies (PACS), Dairy and Fisheries was completed. In the second phase, data of various National Federations, State Federations, State cooperative banks (StCB), District Central Cooperative Banks (DCCBs), Urban Cooperative Banks (UCBs), State Cooperative Agriculture and Rural Development Bank (SCARDB), Primary Cooperative Agriculture and Rural Development Bank (PCARDB), Sugar Cooperative Mills, District Unions and Multi State Cooperative Societies (MSCS) were collected/mapped. In the third phase, data of more than 5.3 lakh primary cooperative societies was mapped from all the remaining other sectors through the office of State/UTs RCS/DRCS offices.

Shah also released the ‘National Cooperative Database 2023: A Report’, which provides a comprehensive overview of the cooperative sector in India as of March 31, 2023. The report covers various aspects such as membership, share capital, working capital, loans advanced and recovered, profit and loss, assets and liabilities, etc. of cooperative societies across different sectors.

Around 1400 participants including Secretaries and other senior officers of Central Ministries/Departments, Additional Chief Secretaries/Principal Secretaries of Cooperation from States/UTs, RCS, Cooperative Societies, and Cooperative Federations/Unions across the country attended the event. A technical workshop was organized in the forenoon session to brief and enlighten the participants about the use and application of the National Cooperative Database (NCD) and its potential to improve the cooperative landscape in India.

Shah said that the launch of the National Cooperative Database is a milestone in the cooperative sector and a reflection of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of “Sahakar se Samriddhi” (Prosperity through Cooperation). He said that the database will help in enhancing transparency, accountability and efficiency in the cooperative sector and enable better coordination and cooperation among various stakeholders. He also said that the database will help in identifying best practices and success stories of cooperatives and disseminating them widely for replication and scaling up .

Shah also said that the Ministry of Cooperation is working on various initiatives to strengthen the cooperative sector such as creating a separate administrative cadre for cooperatives, providing legal support to cooperatives, promoting digitalization and innovation in cooperatives, creating a conducive environment for cooperatives to access credit and market linkages, etc .

Shah also appealed to all stakeholders to actively participate in updating and maintaining the National Cooperative Database and make it a dynamic and vibrant platform for cooperative development .

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