Parliament Question: Women led Cooperatives

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COOPERATION LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4104 TO BE ANSWERED ON 17th MARCH 2026 Women led Cooperatives 4104. Smt. Pratima Mondal: Will the Minister of COOPERATION (सहकारिता मंत्री) be pleased to state: the targeted measures to strengthen women-led and self-help group-linked cooperatives, particularly in economically weaker districts? ANSWER THE MINISTER OF COOPERATION सहकारिता मंत्री (SHRI AMIT SHAH) The Government recognizes cooperative societies as an important instrument for inclusive and participatory economic development especially in economically weaker areas. With the establishment of a separate Ministry of Cooperation, Government aims to strengthen the cooperative movement with a special focus on farmers, women and rural development. Key initiatives to promote women-led cooperatives and cooperatives linked with Self Help Groups (SHGs) include the following: i) Promotion of Women-led Cooperatives: The Government is encouraging the formation and strengthening of women-led cooperative societies across sectors such as dairy, agriculture, handicrafts and rural enterprises. Capacity building, training and financial assistance is being facilitated through various institutions and schemes in convergence with other Ministries. ii) Promotion of Dairy Cooperatives – White Revolution 2.0: To strengthen the dairy sector and promote women’s participation, the Government is actively encouraging the formation of 75,000 new dairy cooperative societies besides strengthening of 46,422 existing dairy cooperative societies. Dairy cooperatives play a significant role in women’s economic empowerment, employment generation and rural livelihood enhancement.iii) Women focused Schemes of National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC): National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) a statutory organization working under administrative control of Ministry of Cooperation while aligning itself with mandate of cooperative led economic development implements various schemes to support women-led and SHG-linked cooperatives viz: a) Swayam Shakti Sahakar Yojana: This scheme aims to promote and strengthen women cooperatives by providing financial assistance for income-generating activities, entrepreneurship development and capacity building of women SHG. The Cooperatives in turn can make onward lending of term loan or working capital loan to women SHG. b) Nandini Sahakar Scheme: The scheme provides financial support exclusively for women-led cooperative societies engaged in activities such as dairy, livestock, food processing and other allied sectors, thereby enhancing women’s participation in cooperative enterprises. c) Yuva Sahakar Yojana: This scheme encourages young women entrepreneurs to establish and manage cooperative enterprises in emerging and innovative sectors by providing financial assistance and support through NCDC. Under the Scheme, NCDC provides 2% interest subvention on the rate of interest on term loan besides easy financing with women led cooperative society required to contribute just 20% of the project cost. *****