Amit Shah Launches ‘Sahkar Digi’ Services at Co-Op Kumbh 2025, Sets Vision for UCBs

Delivering the keynote as Chief Guest, Shri Amit Shah underlined the transformative journey of the urban cooperative credit sector over the past few years.

In a powerful endorsement of India's resurgent cooperative movement, Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation, Shri Amit Shah, inaugurated the international conference ‘Co-Op Kumbh 2025’ in New Delhi, addressing a distinguished gathering of policymakers, cooperative leaders, and international delegates. Organized to commemorate the International Year of Cooperatives, the event serves as a global platform for discourse on the future of urban cooperative banks (UCBs) and credit societies.

A New Chapter for Urban Cooperative Banks

Delivering the keynote as Chief Guest, Shri Amit Shah underlined the transformative journey of the urban cooperative credit sector over the past few years. He noted that the sector has witnessed renewed energy and modernization, and the ‘Delhi Declaration 2025’, adopted at the conference, would act as a strategic roadmap for expanding the reach and efficiency of UCBs in the years ahead.

“Through Co-Op Kumbh 2025, our dream of expanding urban cooperative banks will be fulfilled very soon,” Shri Shah affirmed.

He also launched Sahkar Digi-Pay and Sahkar Digi-Loan—digital services developed to empower even the smallest urban cooperative banks with digital payment and credit facilitation capabilities. These platforms, developed by the sector’s umbrella organization, are expected to bring financial inclusion and digital banking access to underserved communities across India.

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Policy Reforms and Structural Overhaul

The Minister emphasized that since the establishment of the Ministry of Cooperation, the Narendra Modi government has undertaken a series of landmark reforms aimed at removing structural bottlenecks and strengthening the cooperative ecosystem. These include:

• Adoption of model bylaws for Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) by all state governments

• Promotion of multi-sectoral cooperatives that can cater to agriculture, manufacturing, finance, and services

• Strategic consolidation and digitization to promote transparency and outreach

“Urban cooperative banks must be empowered not only for economic growth but also for uplifting the weaker sections of society,” he added.

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Four Pillars of the New Cooperative Vision

Shri Amit Shah outlined four core goals that will drive the Ministry’s efforts in the coming years:

1. Generation Sahakar: A campaign to connect India’s youth with the cooperative movement. Institutions like Tribhuvan Sahkari University will offer education and research avenues to train professionals in cooperative governance.

2. Robust Societies: Building cooperatives that are resilient and capable of navigating both market and governance challenges.

3. Urban Reach: Establishing one urban cooperative bank in every city with a population exceeding two lakh within five years.

4. Inclusive Development: Enabling urban cooperative banks to serve as instruments of empowerment for self-help groups, youth entrepreneurs, and marginalized communities.

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Achievements and Financial Discipline

The Minister proudly highlighted the success in reducing Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) from 2.8% to a mere 0.06% in the past two years—demonstrating improved financial discipline and operational standards across the sector. He added that the ambitious goal of converting cooperative societies into banks will depend on sustained efforts toward capacity-building and financial modernization.

Shri Shah emphasized that true economic progress cannot be measured by GDP statistics alone—it must reflect in job creation, improved livelihoods, and enhanced standards of living, all of which can be achieved only by embedding cooperative principles into national development.

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Amul and IFFCO: Global Leaders in Cooperation

Citing India’s international recognition in the cooperative space, Shri Amit Shah shared that the International Cooperative Alliance has ranked:

• Amul as the world’s top cooperative, and

• IFFCO (Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited) as the second-largest.

He elaborated on Amul’s White Revolution journey, with 3.6 million farmer members, over 18,000 village societies, and a turnover exceeding ₹90,000 crore in 2024–25. Notably, 65% of Amul’s members are women, signifying the cooperative's role in gender empowerment and rural development.

IFFCO, he said, has become a pillar of India’s Green Revolution, producing 93 lakh metric tonnes of urea and DAP, while exporting nano fertilizers to 65 countries, including Brazil, the U.S., Oman, and Jordan. With 5 crore farmer members and 35,000 affiliated cooperative societies, IFFCO achieved a ₹41,000 crore turnover with ₹3,000 crore in profit—a model of sustainable cooperative success.

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Vision for the Future: Transparent, Inclusive, Empowered

Shri Amit Shah concluded by urging stakeholders to move forward with transparency, discipline, and strategic innovation. He emphasized that both the central and state governments now recognize the power of the cooperative model, and with united effort, India can transform UCBs into engines of inclusive development.

“We must now work with renewed confidence and effort in a transparent and result-oriented manner,” he said.

The Co-Op Kumbh 2025 is expected to generate a blueprint for policy, innovation, and global cooperation, marking a critical juncture in the evolution of India’s cooperative movement. It also serves as a celebration of the resilience, contribution, and future promise of the urban cooperative banking sector.