Union Minister Amit Shah announced significant new initiatives to strengthen India's cooperative sector during the 5th Foundation Day celebrations of the Ministry of Cooperation. As reported by The Hindu BusinessLine, Shah announced the establishment of a cooperative life insurance company to deepen the sector's presence in insurance and create new growth opportunities. The minister emphasized that this initiative will be on similar lines of Bharat Taxi, stating "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 also revealed plans to expand the Bharat Taxi initiative to 500 cities over the next two years, building on its existing success since launch. According to Shah, these initiatives aim to position cooperatives as important partners in advancing the vision of Viksit Bharat@2047. The minister stressed eradicating corruption in the appointments of professionals for enhancing credibility in India's cooperative ecosystem, stating that "By ending corruption in appointments, the cooperative sector can win people's trust."
The cooperative life insurance company will be formed by taking lessons from the success of IFFCO-TOKIO, which was incorporated in 2000 as a joint venture between IFFCO and Tokio Marine Group. As reported by The Hindu BusinessLine, IFFCO holds 51% stake in the company while the remaining 49% is held by Tokio Marine Group. Sources indicate that the new insurance company could be structured where existing cooperatives become initial promoters, with potential partnerships at a later stage. This model mirrors the structure of National Cooperative Organic Limited (NCOL), which markets products under the 'Bharat Organic' brand with authorized share capital of ₹500 crore and initial paid capital of ₹100 crore contributed by promoters including NDDB, Amul and NAFED. In India, there are 26 life insurance companies currently operating, making the cooperative entry into this sector particularly significant. Work has started on the formation of a cooperative LIC for which the Ministry would seek approval of the Insurance Regulatory & Development Authority of India (IRDAI) and the final operation may begin in 6-12 months.
The ride-hailing platform Bharat Taxi, launched under the cooperative model, has demonstrated strong performance with 6.37 lakh registered drivers and 35.77 lakh registered customers. As reported by The Hindu BusinessLine, the service is currently operational in Delhi-NCR, Gujarat, Lucknow, Chandigarh, Mumbai, Jaipur, and Kanpur and will soon be launched in Ranchi, Patna, Guwahati, Bhopal, Kolkata, Indore, and Nagpur in the next few months. The initiative is led by Sahakar Taxi Cooperative Ltd, a driver-centric mobility platform based on the cooperative model, which has been doing well and will be expanded into 500 cities over the next two years. Shah highlighted that the ministry has taken many policy initiatives and done commendable work for making the cooperative system modern, transparent, technology-enabled, and competitive. The minister also announced plans to develop utility aggregator co-operatives in the coming days, marking the establishment of pan-India co-operative life insurance company as the fifth national-level co-operative body launched by the NDA government.
India currently has around 8.5 lakh cooperatives with more than 30 crore members, as reported by The Hindu BusinessLine. The minister noted that cooperative organisations have entered into many new sectors, expanding beyond dairy, sugar, fertiliser and banking businesses. Shah mentioned that model bye-laws, which enable PACS (primary agricultural credit societies) to undertake 25+ business activities, have been adopted by all states. These PACS now function beyond credit, covering retail, storage, healthcare, fuel, and digital services. As many as 394 PACS have applied for retail fuel outlets, and 3 outlets have been commissioned. More than 54,000 PACS are functioning as Common Service Centres while 4,248 PACS are approved for Jan Aushadhi Kendras. During the event, Shah laid the foundation stone and inaugurated several major projects including the transfer of 135 godowns with a capacity of 75,000 tonnes, the inauguration of 85 godowns, and the laying of the foundation stone virtually for 47 grain storage godowns.
According to the analysis, cooperatives have tremendous empowering effect with more than 291.2 million members associated with varied collective occupations including agriculture, dairy, fishery, handicrafts, and tourism. The next phase of cooperative reforms must be driven by outcomes, setting measurable targets for employment, member incomes, exports, women's participation, youth leadership and contribution to GDP. Shah expressed confidence that the cooperative sector would play a key role in making Viksit Bharat by 2047, stating "I am fully confident that when the country celebrates the centenary of independence in 2047, the strong foundation of Viksit Bharat will be the cooperative movement." The minister noted that the cooperative sector was a "neglected movement" during the Congress regime but has received new momentum under the current government. Shah mentioned that 'Tribhuvan' Sahkari University is being established at Anand in Gujarat, which will address the human resource problem by preparing trained professionals in banking, dairy, marketing, agriculture, fertilizers, and other areas of cooperation. Highlighting that the Centre has made 50 important amendments in the Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act 2002 after creation of a separate Ministry, he said the entire co-operative system has become more transparent and democratic.
