Statsguru: Performance and challenges of co-operative sector in India

Ever since the govern­ment announced the for­mation of a new Ministry of Co-operation — Home Minister Amit Shah is heading the ministry — there has been a renewed interest in the cooperative sector. The growth of cooperatives in the Indian economy has been phenomenal. The number of cooperative societies in the country has nearly doubled from 484,508 in 2000-01 to 854,355 in 2016-17 (chart 1).

Even though a fifth of these cooperatives are in the financial sector, their share has remained low. While cooperatives account for 10.6 per cent of assets, 10.7 per cent of loans