Ministry
Ministry of Cooperation
The Ministry of Cooperation is the Union government department created on 6 July 2021 to give India's cooperative movement a dedicated administrative, legal and policy framework, a mandate previously carried inside the Ministry of Agriculture. It is the seat of power for the country's roughly 8.4 lakh registered cooperative societies and their nearly 30 crore members, and it owns the flagship "Sahkar se Samriddhi" (prosperity through cooperation) agenda, the Primary Agricultural Credit Society (PACS) computerisation drive, and the multi-state cooperative federations for exports, organics and seeds.
Updated
- Established
- 6 July 2021
- Predecessor
- Cooperation portfolio within the Ministry of Agriculture
- Vision
- Sahkar se Samriddhi (prosperity through cooperation)
- Cooperatives covered
- ~8.4 lakh registered societies, ~30 crore members
- Flagship policy
- National Cooperation Policy 2025 (2025-2045)
- PACS computerisation outlay
- Rs 2,925.39 crore (revised), 79,630 PACS
Role
The Ministry of Cooperation is the Union government’s dedicated department for the cooperative sector, created on 6 July 2021 out of a mandate that had previously sat inside the Ministry of Agriculture. Its stated purpose is to provide “a separate administrative, legal and policy framework for strengthening the cooperative movement in the country” and to realise the vision of “Sahkar se Samriddhi” — prosperity through cooperation. Because cooperation is a State subject under the Constitution, the Ministry works largely through central statutes (chiefly the Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act, 1984), national-level federations, funding convergence and data infrastructure rather than by directly running state-registered societies.
In practice the Ministry is the seat of power over India’s roughly 8.4 lakh registered cooperatives and their nearly 30 crore members — a network reaching most of the country’s villages. It owns the PACS computerisation programme, the National Cooperative Database, the National Cooperation Policy 2025, three national multi-state cooperatives for exports, organics and seeds, the dairy-focused White Revolution 2.0, and the new Tribhuvan Sahkari University. Its budget, tax treatment of cooperatives and regulation of cooperative banks intersect with the Ministry of Finance and the Reserve Bank of India; the portfolio has been held concurrently with the Ministry of Home Affairs since the Ministry’s creation.
Desk maintained by IndiaStand editorial cycles. Officeholders are transient; this dossier tracks the institution.
Timeline since 1947
- reference
Cooperative Credit Societies Act enacted
Colonial-era statute that seeded India's formal cooperative credit movement, the ancestor of today's PACS network.
- reference
Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act
Parliament creates a central law and registrar for cooperatives operating across more than one state, the statute the Ministry now administers.
- reference
97th Constitutional Amendment inserts Part IXB
Adds a cooperative-societies chapter to the Constitution and makes forming cooperatives a constitutional right, while cooperation remains a State subject.
- reference
Ministry of Cooperation created
A separate Union ministry is carved out to give the cooperative sector its own administrative, legal and policy framework under the vision Sahkar se Samriddhi.
- official
Cabinet allows cooperative societies to register as buyers on GeM
The Union Cabinet approved registration of cooperative societies as buyers on the Government e-Marketplace, opening procurement from roughly 67 lakh listed sellers; 667 societies had been onboarded as buyers and 2,406 seller transactions worth Rs 273.62 crore recorded by end-2024.
- official
Three national multi-state cooperatives set up for exports, seeds and organics
The Ministry constituted National Cooperative Exports Ltd (NCEL), Bhartiya Beej Sahakari Samiti Ltd (BBSSL) and National Cooperative Organics Ltd (NCOL) under the Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act, 2002; by end-2024 NCEL had exported 11.63 lakh tonnes worth Rs 4,581.7 crore and BBSSL and NCOL had enrolled 14,816 and 4,757 member societies.
- official
Model bye-laws circulated to convert PACS into multipurpose societies
The Ministry circulated model bye-laws letting Primary Agricultural Credit Societies enter more than 25 new lines of business including dairy, fisheries and storage; 32 states and union territories have adopted them or aligned their existing bye-laws.
- official
Budget 2023-24 settles decades-old cooperative sugar mill tax dispute
The Union Budget allowed cooperative sugar mills to claim pre-assessment-year-2016-17 payments to sugarcane farmers as expenditure; the National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories reported the relief at Rs 46,524 crore. The same budget raised the TDS-free cash withdrawal limit for cooperatives from Rs 1 crore to Rs 3 crore a year.
- official
MoU makes PACS Common Service Centres for over 300 e-services
The Ministry signed an MoU with the Ministry of Electronics and IT, NABARD and CSC e-Governance Services India Ltd enabling PACS to deliver more than 300 CSC e-services; 41,075 PACS had gone live with transactions above Rs 60 crore by end-2024.
- official
Cabinet approves a cooperative society in every panchayat and village
The Union Cabinet cleared a five-year plan to set up new multipurpose PACS, dairy and fisheries cooperatives covering every panchayat and village, implemented with NABARD, NDDB, NFDB and states by converging existing central schemes.
- official
Supreme Court routes Rs 5,000 crore of Sahara dues through the Central Registrar
On the Ministry's petition the Supreme Court ordered Rs 5,000 crore transferred from the Sahara-SEBI refund account to the Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies for depositors of four Sahara group societies; the CRCS-Sahara Refund Portal opened on 18 July 2023 and Rs 1,496.28 crore had reached 9,42,364 depositors by 18 December 2024 against claims of Rs 88,924 crore.
- reference
World's Largest Grain Storage Plan approved
Cabinet clears a PACS-anchored plan converging existing scheme funds to build decentralised godowns, coordinated by an inter-ministerial committee chaired by the Cooperation Minister.
- reference
Multi-State Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Act, 2023
Passed by the Rajya Sabha on 1 August 2023; creates a Cooperative Election Authority, a Cooperative Ombudsman and a rehabilitation fund for sick societies.
- official
National Cooperative Database maps 8.19 lakh cooperative societies
Built in phases with state governments, the database covered about 2.64 lakh PACS, dairy and fisheries societies in phase one, then national societies and federations, reaching 8.19 lakh societies mapped on the NCD portal by end-2024.
- official
NCDC disbursement crosses Rs 60,000 crore in a year
The National Cooperative Development Corporation disbursed Rs 60,618.47 crore in 2023-24, a 48 per cent rise, and Rs 65,345.78 crore in 2024-25; the government permitted it to raise Rs 2,000 crore of government-guaranteed bonds against a three-year target of about Rs 1,00,000 crore in lending.
- official
Computerisation schemes launched for state Registrars and ARDBs
The Ministry launched centrally sponsored schemes to computerise the offices of the Registrars of Cooperative Societies in all states and union territories and 1,851 units of Agriculture and Rural Development Banks, with 75 per cent of ARDB costs borne by the central and state governments and 25 per cent by the banks; Rs 15.20 crore was released to 35 states and UTs in the first instalment.
- official
18,000-PACS computerisation project and grain-storage pilot inaugurated
The project for computerising 18,000 PACS was inaugurated alongside the grain-storage pilot in 11 PACS across 11 states, with foundation stones laid for godowns at 500 more PACS. Proposals for 67,930 PACS across 30 states and UTs had been sanctioned, with Rs 700.42 crore released to states and Rs 165.92 crore to NABARD.
- official
NUCFDC inaugurated as umbrella body for urban cooperative banks
The National Urban Cooperative Finance and Development Corporation Ltd was inaugurated to supply IT infrastructure and operational support to around 1,500 urban cooperative banks; the RBI issued its certificate of registration as an NBFC on 8 February 2024.
- official
10,000 new multipurpose PACS, dairy and fisheries societies inaugurated
Ten thousand newly registered multipurpose PACS, dairy and fisheries cooperatives were inaugurated under the every-panchayat plan; 10,825 such societies had been registered across states and UTs, guided by a standard operating procedure (Margdarshika) issued on 19 September 2024.
- reference
Tribhuvan Sahkari University Act, 2025
Parliament converts the Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA) into India's first national cooperative university; passed by the Lok Sabha on 26 March 2025 and the Rajya Sabha on 1 April 2025, it received presidential assent as Act No. 11 of 2025.
- official
National Cooperation Policy 2025 unveiled
A 20-year policy (2025-2045) with six strategic pillars replaces the 2002 policy and sets targets such as tripling the sector's GDP contribution by 2034.
- official
Bharat Taxi launched as a cooperative ride-hailing service
The Ministry launched Bharat Taxi, extending the cooperative model into app-based passenger transport, a segment previously served only by private aggregators.
- official
National Level Policy Implementation and Monitoring Committee first meets
The committee overseeing implementation of the National Cooperation Policy 2025 held its first meeting in New Delhi, standing up the monitoring machinery for the 2025-2045 policy.
- gdelt
Fifth Foundation Day
The Ministry marks five years, reporting tens of thousands of PACS digitalised on the common ERP platform and godowns completed under the grain-storage plan.
Frequently asked
- What is Ministry of Cooperation?
- The Ministry of Cooperation is the Union government department created on 6 July 2021 to give India's cooperative movement a dedicated administrative, legal and policy framework, a mandate previously carried inside the Ministry of Agriculture. It is the seat of power for the country's roughly 8.4 lakh registered cooperative societies and their nearly 30 crore members, and it owns the flagship "Sahkar se Samriddhi" (prosperity through cooperation) agenda, the Primary Agricultural Credit Society (PACS) computerisation drive, and the multi-state cooperative federations for exports, organics and seeds.
- When was Ministry of Cooperation established?
- Ministry of Cooperation was established 2021-07-06.
- What does Ministry of Cooperation do?
- Its remit covers Sahkar se Samriddhi: the whole-of-government agenda for strengthening cooperatives, Administration of the Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act, 1984 (as amended in 2023), Registration and regulation of multi-state cooperative societies, PACS computerisation and conversion of PACS into multi-purpose rural hubs, Maintenance of the National Cooperative Database, Oversight of national-level cooperative federations for exports, organics and seeds, Dairy cooperative strengthening under White Revolution 2.0, Cooperative education and training via Tribhuvan Sahkari University.
- What is the latest on Ministry of Cooperation?
- As of 2026-07-06: Fifth Foundation Day. The Ministry marks five years, reporting tens of thousands of PACS digitalised on the common ERP platform and godowns completed under the grain-storage plan.
Official sources
The government's own pages for this institution — go straight to the primary.
- Official website
www.cooperation.gov.in
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Canonical home of the ministry created in July 2021; initiatives, schemes, notifications and contact.
www.cooperation.gov.in/en
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Statutory registrar under the ministry that registers and regulates multi-state cooperative societies; filings and society search.
crcs.gov.in/
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Statutory corporation (Act of 1963) under the ministry that finances and promotes cooperative projects.
www.ncdc.in/
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Ministry-run database of cooperatives nationwide — sector, membership, geography and financial parameters.
cooperatives.gov.in/
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Principal Act the ministry administers, with linked rules, notifications and the 2023 amendment.
www.indiacode.nic.in/handle/123456789/1914
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PIB press-release archive item summarising the ministry's year of activity; PIB is its press channel.
www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2090873