COOPERATIVES

NCBA -  The 2025 International Year of Cooperatives  was officially launched at the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA)’s Global Cooperative Conference and General Assembly in New Delhi, India last week. The launch ceremony featured delegates from more than 100 countries, including UN representatives, Indian government officials and cooperators.

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivered a keynote address during the ceremony during which he highlighted the important role cooperatives play in the country. India is home to 800,000 cooperatives, including the Indian Farmers Fertilizers Cooperative (IFFCO), the world’s largest cooperative by turnover on GDP per capita.

“For India, cooperatives are a way of life,” Prime Minister Modi said. “For the whole world, cooperatives are a business model, but at the same time, cooperation is the basis of our culture. It is a lifestyle.”

The Prime Minister described how the partnership between the Government of India and cooperatives was key to sustainable growth, and how this growth “should be seen in a human-centric way.”

“The importance of cooperatives is not confined to laws and regulations; we have to move beyond that,” he said, arguing that the “cooperative spirit will be the life of the country.”

Modi also thanked the UN for declaring 2025 as the International Year of Cooperatives. “In this IYC we will empower this cooperative spirit. We will move forward with this cooperative spirit and we will be empowered, we will be prosperous,” he said.