Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation, Amit Shah, presided over the launch of the National Cooperative for Exports Limited (NCEL), a venture that marks the union of cooperative sectors in India's export efforts. The event, held today in Delhi, saw the unveiling of the NCEL logo, website, and brochure, along with the distribution of membership certificates to NCEL members.
NCEL, established as an umbrella organization for cooperative sector exports, was registered under the Multi-State Co-operative Societies Act, 2002, on January 25 of this year.
Minister Piyush Goyal was also present at the event, underscoring the government's commitment to bolstering the cooperative sector's role in India's export landscape.
In his address, Piyush Goyal emphasized the collaboration between NCEL and the Commerce Department, highlighting the comprehensive efforts by the Trade and Cooperative Ministries, along with the Foreign Ministry, to ensure the venture's success.
He stressed the pivotal role the cooperative sector plays in boosting government initiatives and contributing significantly to India's exports.
Goyal said, "NCEL is starting its journey with other possibilities and is looking forward to the cooperation with the commerce department. Both the trade and cooperative ministries are taking this vision forward, the foreign ministry is also involved with it, kind of the whole of the government is trying to make it successful, so I have full confidence that it will move forward".
"One thing that will become the main power is the cooperative sector, it will give a boost to the government sector, and it will give a boost to India's exports. In our farming fields, in our workplaces, all these people who are contributing to the economic development of the country, a very important role is being played for all of them", added Goyal.
Goyal said, "At the G20 summit, PM Modi started the Global Biofuels Alliance. India is leading this alliance, which is creating awareness in the world about ethanol and other biofuels. This will increase the demand and India has unlimited possibilities to fulfil those demands. A lot of companies in India produce ethanol. In the future, we can produce ethanol using maize. If the cooperative sector takes the initiative in this, we will meet the increasing demand for ethanol."
Union Home Minister Amit Shah shared his aspirations for NCEL to become the voice of the farmers and facilitate cooperative sector success. The government has already begun laying the groundwork for this endeavour, with temporary offices up and running, ongoing personnel recruitment, and orders worth Rs 7,000 crore approved, with negotiations for Rs 15,000 crore underway.
Shah expressed confidence that NCEL would join the ranks of cooperative success stories like IFFCO and Amul.
Shah said," We want this area to be united with an export limited and become the voice of the farmers. Now a rush has started, we are also running the offices on a temporary basis, recruitment of personnel is also going on, and till now we have passed an order of Rs 7000 crore and negotiations of Rs 15000 crore are going on. So I am sure that in the coming days, like IFFCO, Amul, NCEL will also prove to be a great cooperative success adventure."
Amit Shah lauded the substantial contributions made by cooperatives in various sectors, such as food production, sugar production, milk production, spindles, and grain.
"30 per cent of food production is done in the cooperative sector, 30 per cent of sugar production is done by cooperatives, almost 19 per cent of milk production is done by cooperatives, if we talk about spindles, the biggest part of it is done by cooperatives and the grain is seen. If there is a question of financing the farmers who produce the goods, then 42% of the finance can be done directly/indirectly also by the cooperative", said Shah.
The launch of NCEL signifies a substantial step toward empowering the cooperative sector and harnessing its potential to advance India's exports.
It reflects the government's commitment to fostering cooperative success and economic development across various sectors in the country.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
