Union Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah informed the Lok Sabha that recent GST rationalisation measures will significantly benefit cooperatives in the dairy, food processing, agriculture and rural enterprise sectors across the country, including Madhya Pradesh.
In the dairy sector, GST on milk and paneer has been made nil, while GST on butter, ghee, cheese and milk cans has been reduced from 12% to 5%. Shah stated that the revised rates will make dairy products more competitive, increase demand, and boost revenues of dairy cooperative societies.
The share of consumer price passed on to dairy farmers, currently about 80%, is expected to rise to around 85%, including in Karnataka and Dakshina Kannada.
For the food processing sector, GST on major food items such as jams, jellies, fruit pulp, juice-based drinks, chocolates, cornflakes, ice creams, pastries, cakes and biscuits has been cut to 5% from 12–18%. The Minister said this would increase demand and enhance revenue for cooperatives engaged in food processing.
In the agriculture and rural enterprises sector, GST on key fertilizer inputs like ammonia, sulphuric acid and nitric acid has been reduced from 18% to 5%, while many bio-pesticides and micronutrients also now attract 5% GST. GST on tractors below 1800 cc and tractor components has likewise been reduced to 5%.
These revisions will lower input costs, support timely availability of fertilizers, promote bio-based inputs, and directly benefit small farmers and FPOs.
Shah said these GST reductions will enhance the competitiveness of cooperative products in the unorganised sector, strengthen consumer trust, and improve cooperative market share. Increased sales and margins will enable cooperatives to pass on higher procurement prices to members.
He added that improved price competitiveness is expected to encourage informal producers and women-led self-help groups to link with cooperatives, providing better market access and improved income opportunities across States/UTs, including Chhattisgarh and Bihar.
Also, Shah informed that the Ministry of Cooperation has taken major steps to strengthen digital governance in the cooperative sector by enabling real-time, streamlined data exchange with the National Cooperative Database (NCD).
According to the Minister, the Ministry developed a Standard API for States to access cooperative societies’ data from the NCD portal and shared the API Specification Document and database schema on 27 May 2025.
Further advancing the digital framework, Push APIs enabling live, event-driven data transfer from State Registrar of Cooperative Societies (RCS) applications to the NCD were finalized, with all supporting documents and SOPs shared on 22 September 2025.
To aid States in this transition, an advisory containing comprehensive checklists for RCS computerization and API integration was issued on 14 November 2025. Rajasthan has already completed API integration with the NCD portal, the Minister noted.
Amit Shah emphasized that as per the integration plan, all States and UTs are required to
develop reverse/pull APIs and fully computerize their RCS systems to ensure two-way integration and real-time synchronization of cooperative data nationwide.
He also highlighted that the National Cooperative Database, launched on 8 March 2024, now serves as a single-point source of information on over 8.4 lakh cooperative societies with nearly 32 crore members across 30 sectors. Data is regularly collected and updated by State and UT nodal officers.
