New Delhi: In a bid to make India’s urban cooperative banks (UCBs) digitally savvy, Union home minister and cooperation minister Amit Shah on Monday launched two new digital platforms—Sahkar DigiPay and Sahkar DigiLoan—aimed at making payments and credit access faster, paperless and transparent for cooperative members.
The new platforms are expected to transform day-to-day banking for nearly 9 crore depositors and borrowers who rely on UCBs, many of which are gradually transitioning from manual systems to digital operations.
“Sahkar DigiPay and Sahkar DigiLoan are very important platforms in the current scenario when digitalisation of financial services has grown sharply. If cooperative banks do not match this growth, then they will be out of the race,” said Shah, inaugurating the two-day International Conference of Urban Cooperative Credit Sector 2025 (Coop Kumbh 2025) event at Vigyan Bhawan Monday.
He further added, “With the advent of the new era of digital payments in India, even the smallest urban cooperative societies will now be able to connect through these apps.”
However, Shah urged UCB umbrella organisations NUCFDC (National Urban Cooperative Finance & Development Corporation) and NAFCUB (National Federation of Urban Cooperative Banks and Credit Societies Ltd) to not be satisfied just with the launch of these applications. “…Rejoice only after all 1,500 cooperative banks onboard these new platforms over next two years,” he said.
The two-day event has been organised by NAFCUB, an apex body responsible for promoting the interests of over 1,500 Urban Cooperative Banks and nearly 60,000 credit societies in the country along with NUCFDC, an umbrella organisation responsible for enhancing operational efficiency of cooperative banks.
Also present at the inaugural session of Coop Kumbh 2025 were Krishan Pal Gurjar, Minister of State for Cooperation, Ashish Kumar Bhutani, cooperation secretary, among others.
Speaking at the event, Shah emphasised the need for new cooperative banks while also expanding the existing branch network of banks to enable wider access of services to people in every town with a population of over two lakh over the next five years.
To achieve this target over the next five years, Shah called upon NAFCUB and NUCFDC to set yearly targets for opening new cooperative banks and branches. “I know it is a difficult task, but we need to work with zeal to achieve this target,” Shah said.
Shah also spoke of the role of urban cooperative banks in uplifting under-privileged and young entrepreneurs in small towns. “NAFCUB and NUCFDC must issue guidelines to all urban cooperative banks to re-design their financial products in a way that will benefit under-privileged people,” he said.
The minister further said that while cooperatives are a state subject, without some policy guidance or direction from the Centre, states would work in different directions. “I am pleased to say that model bye-laws for primary agricultural credit societies (PACS) that were circulated to all states for adoption have now been accepted by all states except West Bengal,” he said.
Issued in 2023, these model bye-laws were designed for PACS to transform into multi-purpose and financially sustainable economic entities at the village and panchayat levels.
At the end of the two-day event, the cooperative banks will adopt the “Delhi Declaration 2025—Roadmap to 2030,” a policy document outlining strategies to strengthen governance, capital adequacy, risk management, and digital inclusion across cooperative institutions.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)