Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah on Monday announced that every Indian city with a population exceeding 200,000 will have a cooperative bank within the next five years. Speaking at Co-Op Kumbh 2025, an international conference on the urban cooperative credit sector in New Delhi, Shah urged cooperative lenders to embrace digital technologies to improve efficiency, reduce NPAs, and promote job creation.

Shah highlighted the progress of the sector, noting that non-performing assets have fallen from 2.8% to 0.6% over the past two years. He emphasized that cooperatives, which operate on a shared-ownership model, are crucial for livelihood generation in sectors such as dairy, fisheries, finance, housing, and agriculture, citing Amul as a leading example.

The minister underscored the importance of digitalisation, referencing initiatives such as ‘Sahkar Digi-Pay’ and ‘Sahkar Digi-Loan’ apps, which aim to bring cooperative banking into the digital era. “Financial technology must be leveraged to ensure that every citizen has access to work and improved living standards,” he said.

Shah also called on states to adopt a common policy approach for cooperative expansion. He noted that urban cooperative banks should play a multi-sector role in empowering young entrepreneurs, self-help groups, and marginalized communities, asserting that no other institution can fulfill this mandate as effectively.

Since 2021, when the Modi government created the Ministry of Cooperation, the Centre has implemented reforms to digitize and strengthen the cooperative sector, including the Multi-State Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Act, 2022, aimed at improving governance for national-level cooperatives.