India’s Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah on 30 June convened a “Manthan Baithak” at New Delhi’s Bharat Mandapam with cooperation ministers from every state and union territory to prepare a national roadmap for the United Nations-declared International Year of Cooperatives 2025. Officials reviewed the performance of existing schemes and discussed proposals to expand digital registration, create a national cooperative database and improve access to credit and markets for small producers. In his address, Shah said the 125-year-old cooperative movement remains central to India’s economic and social policy, citing dairy giant Amul’s roughly ₹80,000 crore turnover generated by 3.6 million rural women who invested only modest sums. He also pointed to fertiliser majors IFFCO and KRIBHCO and marketing federation NAFED as examples of how cooperatives can deliver income support to farmers while underpinning programmes such as free food-grain distribution. Extending the outreach beyond policymakers, Shah on 9 July travelled to Ahmedabad for a “Sahkar Samvaad” dialogue with women from cooperatives in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. Participants shared field-level feedback on credit, training and market linkages—input the minister said would be incorporated into the agenda India will showcase during the International Year of Cooperatives next year.