Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah informed the Lok Sabha that provisions of approximately Rs 8 crore have been made so far from the Cooperative Education Fund (CEF) for the development and maintenance of the National Cooperative Database (NCD).
The Ministry of Cooperation, with support from State and Union Territory governments, has developed a comprehensive National Cooperative Database to systematically record data on cooperative societies across various sectors. The database has been created in three phases.
In Phase-I, completed in February 2023, around 2.64 lakh primary cooperative societies in agriculture, dairy, and fisheries were mapped with assistance from district registrar offices and 500 local interns from AICTE. Phase-II involved mapping National Cooperative Societies and Federations, linking them with state and district-level cooperative structures, and collecting data from cooperative banks and federations.
Phase-III, which began in May 2023, extended the database to cover over 5.3 lakh cooperative societies in other sectors. Data entries were completed by almost all States and Union Territories through their respective Registrar of Cooperative Societies (RCS) offices.
Currently, the NCD records over 8 lakh primary cooperative societies, with approximately 30 crore members.
The database is now operational and accessible at https://cooperatives.gov.in, providing a structured digital repository to enhance transparency and strengthen the cooperative movement in India.
