Onlykashmir.in News Desk
Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah on Thursday chaired a series of high-level review meetings in New Delhi focused on strengthening the national cooperative sector across three critical domains: cooperative banking, organic products and cooperative exports.
During the review of cooperative banking, Shah took comprehensive stock of the progress being made across a range of technology-driven reform initiatives aimed at modernising the sector. The discussions covered technology adoption, improved governance frameworks, cybersecurity preparedness, digital payment integration, common service platforms and enhanced service delivery mechanisms. These represent the building blocks of a more efficient, transparent and citizen-accessible cooperative banking ecosystem that can serve the millions of Indians, particularly in rural and semi-urban areas, who depend on cooperative financial institutions for their banking needs.
Detailed discussions were held on the proposed Cooperative Bank of India and the role it is expected to play in anchoring and supporting the wider cooperative banking sector in the coming years. The proposal for a dedicated apex cooperative bank has been in deliberation for some time, and the review suggests that its design and implementation trajectory are being actively monitored at the highest level of government.
The progress of Sahakar Sarathi’s technology-driven initiatives for cooperative banks was also reviewed, with the meeting noting an encouraging uptake among cooperative banks toward common digital platforms and shared services. The integration of MuleHunter.AI with the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) was discussed as a measure to strengthen fraud risk management and cybersecurity capabilities within cooperative banks, addressing the growing threat of digital fraud in the sector.
Beyond banking, Shah’s reviews also covered the organic products segment, assessing the status of cooperative-driven organic agriculture initiatives, and the cooperative exports framework, examining the capacity of the cooperative sector to compete in global markets and increase India’s share of cooperative-origin goods in international trade.
The Ministry of Cooperation, created in 2021 under Shah’s leadership, has been systematically building the policy and institutional infrastructure to transform India’s cooperative sector from a collection of fragmented local organisations into a technology-enabled, nationally integrated movement capable of driving rural economic growth.
