New Delhi, July 6: Union Cooperation Minister Amit Shah on Monday announced plans to set up a life insurance company in the cooperative sector, positioning it as the next step in the government’s push to widen the role of cooperatives in India’s economy.
Speaking at an event in the national capital to mark the fifth foundation day of the Ministry of Cooperation, Shah said the proposed insurer would be developed on the lines of other cooperative-led initiatives and would help cooperatives enter a sector where their presence has so far been limited.
“We will be setting up a life insurance company in the cooperative sector. This will help in the growth of cooperatives in the insurance sector,” Shah said.
The announcement comes at a time when the government is trying to make cooperatives more professional, transparent and better connected to national markets. Shah said the creation of the Ministry of Cooperation had given a new lifeline to India’s cooperative movement, which he described as neglected in earlier years.
India has around 8.5 lakh cooperatives with more than 30 crore members, making the sector one of the country’s largest community-owned economic networks. Shah said cooperatives are no longer confined to traditional areas such as dairy, sugar and fertiliser, and are now expanding into newer sectors.
He also referred to Bharat Taxi, saying the cooperative mobility initiative has been doing well and is expected to expand to 500 cities over the next two years.
Shah noted that IFFCO, the fertiliser cooperative, already has a presence in insurance through a joint venture with a Japanese firm. The proposed life insurance company would mark a more direct cooperative-sector push into the insurance space.
A major part of the event focused on the government’s work over the past five years to strengthen grassroots cooperative institutions. Shah said a national database of the cooperative sector has been created to support expansion and planning. He also said the government is setting up Tribhuvan Sahkari University in Anand, Gujarat, to address the sector’s human resource needs.
The programme also saw the launch and foundation-laying of several cooperative projects. These included the transfer of 135 godowns with a capacity of 75,000 tonnes, the inauguration of 85 godowns, and the virtual foundation laying for 47 grain storage godowns.
Another key initiative was the conversion of 50,000 Primary Agriculture Cooperative Societies into e-PACS, a move aimed at digitally empowering local cooperative institutions.
Groundbreaking ceremonies were also held for Sahakar Van by Amul and NCCF, along with tissue culture facilities of Bharatiya Beej Sahakari Samiti Ltd in Barabanki, Uttar Pradesh, and Jalgaon, Maharashtra. A memorandum of understanding was signed between BBSSL and ICAR to strengthen seed systems.
Shah also released model bye-laws for dairy cooperative societies and a book on the achievements of the Ministry of Cooperation over the past five years.
Addressing concerns about the role of the central ministry in a subject linked closely with states, Shah said the Union Ministry was created for policy-making and not to interfere in state matters. He said even Congress-ruled states had not complained over the past five years that the ministry had encroached on their domain.
“The Union Ministry is not for interfering in the state subject. It is for policy making,” he said.
Union Minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh, who also attended the event, said the cooperative sector had been strengthened under the NDA government. He added that the dairy cooperative system is being expanded to make the dairy sector more organised, noting that around 40 per cent of the sector remains unorganised.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma also spoke at the event and criticised the previous Congress-led government in the state, alleging that the cooperative sector had become a centre of corruption under its rule.
The ministry said its larger goal is to build a cooperative ecosystem that connects farmers, women, youth, small producers, dairy farmers, urban cooperatives and rural institutions under the vision of “Sahakar Se Samriddhi” and a developed, self-reliant India.
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