Senior cooperative leader Dileep Sanghani has outlined an ambitious and implementation-ready roadmap for strengthening India’s cooperative sector in the Union Budget 2026–27, positioning cooperatives as a central pillar in achieving the vision of Viksit Bharat @2047.
In a detailed proposal submitted to the Union Finance Ministry, Sanghani stressed that the budget must decisively build on recent policy momentum to unlock the sector’s full economic and social potential.
Highlighting the scale and reach of the cooperative movement, Sanghani noted that India has over 8.5 lakh registered cooperative societies, of which more than 6.6 lakh are active, covering nearly 98 percent of rural India and serving around 32 crore members.
These include nearly 10 crore women associated through self-help groups. He underlined that cooperatives already contribute significantly to the national economy, accounting for a major share in agricultural credit, fertiliser production, sugar output, milk procurement and rural storage infrastructure. According to him, this strong base justifies enhanced fiscal and policy support in the upcoming budget.
Sanghani said the government’s recent initiatives such as the National Cooperative Policy 2025, PACS computerisation, expansion of NCDC lending, White Revolution 2.0, Digital Sahakar, the creation of new multi-state cooperative societies and large-scale training through NCCT have given the sector a new direction. He argued that Budget 2026–27 should consolidate these gains with additional financial allocations and targeted reforms to ensure faster implementation on the ground.
A key expectation flagged by Sanghani is deeper digitisation and modernisation of Primary Agricultural Credit Societies and cooperative banks. He emphasised that full digital coverage, adoption of advanced technologies and integrated service platforms would improve transparency, speed up transactions and transform PACS into multi-service rural hubs. This, he said, would directly strengthen service delivery to farmers and rural households.
On taxation, Sanghani called for a more supportive tax regime to enhance the competitiveness of cooperatives. He stressed that extending concessional tax rates to new cooperatives in priority sectors, easing compliance-related thresholds and rationalising deductions would encourage investment, diversification and value addition, particularly in agriculture, dairy, fertilisers, fisheries and renewable energy.
Placing strong emphasis on youth and women, Sanghani advocated a dedicated innovation and startup fund for cooperatives under the NCDC framework. He said such a fund would catalyse rural entrepreneurship, support cooperative-based startups and create sustainable livelihoods, especially for young members and women who already form the backbone of the movement.
He also underlined the need for focused budgetary support for agricultural value chains, dairy expansion under White Revolution 2.0, strengthening cooperative banks and enhancing training, skill development and exports. According to Sanghani, these measures would reduce post-harvest losses, boost farmers’ incomes, expand cooperative-led exports and deepen financial inclusion across rural India.
Concluding his submission, Sanghani expressed confidence that with modest additional allocations and policy clarity, the cooperative sector could significantly increase its contribution to GDP, generate large-scale rural employment and accelerate progress towards national development goals.
He urged the Finance Minister to accord special mention to cooperatives in the Budget speech, signalling the government’s long-term commitment to this people-centric economic model.