Amit Shah will launch several projects once the Ministry of Cooperation completes five years

Union Home Affairs and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah will lay the foundation stone for 47 grain warehouses and inaugurate several major projects on Monday (July 6, 2026) to mark the completion of five years of the Ministry of Cooperation, a government statement said.

The minister would also launch a centralized core banking platform and Sahakar Sahyogi, an AI conversational platform for urban cooperative banks, among other initiatives.

The ministry has emphasized cooperation with states as a key pillar in the implementation of its initiatives over the past five years, a ministry official said on Sunday (July 5, 2026).

The cooperation ministry aimed to increase the country’s milk procurement by 50% in the next five years by expanding cooperative coverage, creating jobs and empowering women as part of White Revolution 2.0, the official said.

More than 25,282 Dairy Cooperatives (DCS) in 31 States and Union Territories have been registered under the scheme. Cooperatives were also allowed to function as Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samriddhi Kendras (PMKSK) and Bank Mitras, while members of dairy cooperatives were provided with RuPay Kisan credit cards to improve access to affordable credit.

The ministry also launched sustainability initiatives in the dairy sector, including registration of new multi-state cooperatives for milk inputs and manure management, along with the formation of Sardar Patel Cooperative Dairy Federation Limited (SPCDF), which aimed to link over 20,000 dairy farmers from over 20,000 villages in 20 states into an organized cooperative structure, the official said.

White revolution 2.0

White Revolution 2.0 is among the 151 initiatives taken by the ministry since its creation on July 6, 2021. Mr. Shah took charge as the first Minister for Cooperation and continued in the post after the BJP-led NDA government returned to power in 2024.

The official added that urban cooperative banks (UCBs) could now open more branches without prior approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), offer door-to-door banking services and provide higher value home loans. Co-operative banks have also been included under the Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE) with credit guarantee coverage up to 85% of the loan amount.

The move has reduced credit risks for cooperative banks, improved access to formal credit for small businesses and enabled cooperative sector businesses to get collateral-free loans, the official added. Eligibility criteria for cooperative banks to become member credit institutions under the scheme have also been relaxed, expanding their participation in lending.

The official added that Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) have been strengthened by converting them into multi-purpose rural institutions. Model bye-laws have been put in place to enable PACS to carry out more than 25 business activities, while nationwide computerization has brought more than 63,000 PACS on a common ERP-based platform, the official added.

The government has also encouraged the creation of new PACS, dairy and fishing cooperatives, with more than 37,000 such companies registered as of 2023. PACS have been integrated with a number of government services and schemes, including Common Service Centers (CSCs), PM Bharatiya Jan Aushadhi Kendras, PM Kisan Samriddhi, Distributor for Water Supply in Kendras, LPG for Fuel Supply in Kendras, LPG focal point for economic activity and service delivery in rural India.

The official added that Bharat Taxi, another cooperative ministry initiative launched in February 2026, operated on a “zero commission” model, where drivers kept the entire fare instead of paying commission to aggregators.

Supported by the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) along with major cooperative institutions such as IFFCO, NAFED, Amul, KRIBHCO, NDDB, NCEL and NABARD, Bharat Taxi sought to provide drivers with greater income security and a stake in the cooperative enterprise.

According to a ministry official, the platform already had more than 6.37 million registered drivers and 35.77 million customers and was operational in several cities, including Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Jaipur, Lucknow and Chandigarh.

Published – 5 Jul 2026 22:14 IST