Ministry of Cooperation

Branch of Government of India
Ministry of Cooperation
Agency overview
Formed	6 July 2021 (2 years ago) (2021-07-06)
Jurisdiction	Government of India
Headquarters	New Delhi
Minister responsible	Amit Shah
Minister of State responsible	B. L. Verma
Agency executive	Dr.Ashish Kumar Bhutani, IAS, Secretary

The Ministry of Cooperation is a Union ministry under the Government of India^[1] which was formed in 2021. The ministry provides a separate administrative, legal and policy framework for strengthening the cooperative movement in the country. The ministry's creation was announced on 6 July 2021^[2] along with its vision statement of Sahkar se samriddhi (transl. Prosperity through cooperation). Before the creation of this ministry, the objectives of this ministry were looked after by the Ministry of Agriculture.^[3]

The ministry works in strengthening co-operatives at the grassroot level,^[4][5] working to streamline processes for 'Ease of doing business' for co-operatives and enabling the development of Multi-State Co-operatives (MSCS).^[6][7] The same was initially announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman while presenting the 2021 Union budget.^[4]

Objectives

The ministry was created with objectives of:^[8]

• To realise the vision of "Sahkar se Samriddhi" (prosperity through cooperation).
• To streamline processes for ‘'Ease of doing business’' for co-operatives and enable development of Multi-State Co-operatives (MSCS)
• to provide a separate administrative, legal and policy framework for strengthening the cooperative movements in the country.
• To deepen the cooperative as a true people-based movement reaching upto the grassroot level.

Cooperative Societies at National Level

Core Cooperative Society at National Level

• National Cooperative Union of India Limited

Cooperative Banks at National Level

• National Federation of State Cooperative Banks Limited
• National Federation of Urban Cooperative Banks and Credit Societies Limited

Development Cooperative Banks at National Level

• National Cooperative Land Development Banks Federation Limited
• All India Industrial Cooperative Banks Federation Limited

Consumer Cooperative Societies at National Level

• National Cooperative Consumer’s Federation of India Limited

Worker Cooperative Societies at National Level

• National Federation of Labour Cooperative Limited

Housing Cooperative Societies at National Level

• National Cooperative Housing Federation Limited

Producer/Marketing Cooperative Societies at National Level

• National Federation of Industrial Cooperative Limited
• Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited
• Krishak Bharati Cooperative Limited
• All India Federation of Cooperative Spinning Mills Limited
• National Cooperative Dairy Federation of India Limited
• National Heavy Engineering Cooperative Limited
• All India Handloom Fabrics Marketing Cooperative Society Limited
• National Federation of Fishermen’s Cooperative Limited
• National Cooperative Tobacco Grower’s Federation Limited
• Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India Limited
• National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories Limited
• National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India
• Petrofils Cooperative Limited (To be de-liquidated)

Cabinet Ministers

No.	Portrait		Minister (Birth-Death) Constituency	Term of office			Political party	Ministry	Prime Minister
				From	To	Period
1			Amit Shah (born 1964) MP for Gandhinagar	7 July 2021	Incumbent	2 years, 278 days	Bharatiya Janata Party	Modi II	Narendra Modi

Ministers of State

No.	Portrait		Minister (Birth-Death)	Term of office			Political party	Ministry	Prime Minister
				From	To	Period
1			B. L. Verma (born 1961) Rajya Sabha MP for Uttar Pradesh	7 July 2021	Incumbent	2 years, 278 days	Bharatiya Janata Party	Modi II	Narendra Modi

Department of Co-operation State Committees

Department of Co-operation State Committees was created with objectives of:^[8]

• Legal framework preservation for strengthening the country.
• To deter discrimination to communities in the country.
• Historic preservation of every state in the country.

Criticism

Co-operative societies, being a subject of State List under the Seventh schedule of the Constitution, many experts raised concerns that, creating such a ministry at the central level would increase the power in the hands of the union government.^[9]

Kerala's Minister of Co-operation and Registration V. N. Vasavan stated that, "Creation of a new Cooperation ministry is an infringement upon the federal rights of the state governments. [....] This is an intrusion into the authority of the state governments."^[10]