Cooperatives & Private Sector: Competing or Complementing?
India’s dairy sector stands on two strong but often polarised pillars—the cooperative movement and the private sector. Cooperatives continue to procure nearly 50% of organised milk, ensuring inclusion, scale, and price assurance for millions of farmers. The private sector, meanwhile, has driven growth in branded products, modern processing, and channel innovation. The debate is no…
Rise of Premium Dairy Brands Alongside Cooperatives
The Indian dairy landscape is undergoing a structural shift: alongside long-standing cooperatives, premium private dairy brands — especially those offering value-added products (VAPs) — are growing rapidly, reshaping consumer expectations, product mix and value flows. Urban consumers in cities like Bengaluru, Mumbai and Delhi increasingly pick premium yogurt drinks, probiotic curds, artisanal paneer or high-quality…
Cooperatives Shine in National Gopal Ratna Awards Rankings
The Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying has announced the National Gopal Ratna Awards (NGRA) 2025, one of India’s highest honours in the dairy and livestock sector. This year’s results highlight the growing strength of dairy cooperatives, which continue to play a pivotal role in supporting farmers, improving indigenous breeds, and strengthening the rural economy….
India’s dairy: leaps in output, cooperatives & women empowerment
The latest PIB release highlights India’s remarkable strides in dairying: over the past decade, milk production surged by 63.56% (from 146.30 to 239.30 million tonnes), while per capita availability rose 48% to 471 g/day — well above the global average. India continues to hold the top global rank in milk output and contributes nearly a…
Arun Raste’s ‘Book : Cooperatives In The 21st Century
The cooperative movement started in India as an initiative to promote social and economic justice to the class of Indian society which didn’t have the resources to uplift themselves. In his book, Cooperatives in 21st Century: Navigating New Frontiers, Arun Raste explores and investigates the perimeters and boundaries along with the work done and can be…
Lower tax rate for manufacturing coops-Amit Shah in RS
Newly set up co-operatives that undertake manufacturing activities will get benefits of a lower tax rate of 15%, as is available to new manufacturing firms, Union minister for home and cooperation Amit Shah has said in a reply in Parliament. In a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, Shah also…
Link farmers with cooperatives to raise milk production-Yogi
To boost cooperative dairy in the state, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has issued directions to enhance the operations of the Pradeshik Cooperative Dairy Federation. Reviewing plans to expand its reach and increase its membership on Monday, the CM said there should be healthy competition among milk cooperative societies and dairy unions. The CM said that employees…
Govt plans to enlist dairy, fishery co-operatives in rural banking outreach
The government is planning to launch a nationwide programme to rope in dairy and fishery cooperative societies as banking correspondents to expand financial services in rural areas, a top official said on Wednesday. Ministry of Cooperation Secretary Ashish Kumar Bhutani said the programme would leverage the existing network of dairy and fishery cooperatives to act…
Eying To Cash In The Booming Organic Market Via Cooperatives
With estimated global organic food market to be around Rs 10 lakh crore where India’s share is paltry 2.7 per cent, the Government is eying to harness the unlimited opportunities on the platter to boost income of farmers for which it has set up a national level cooperative society for organic products. The first-of-its-kind initiative…
The many benefits of mapping cooperatives
A national database on cooperatives has been initiated by the Ministry of Cooperation for single-point access to information on cooperatives of different sectors and develop a process for better understanding of cooperatives. The proposed database shall facilitate all stakeholders in policy-making and implementation to strengthen the cooperative movement in the country. In the first phase…