Mumbai, August 8: Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah on Saturday said India’s goal of becoming a developed nation by 2047 can be achieved only by ensuring prosperity for every Indian, stressing that a strong self-employment ecosystem is essential for this objective and that Urban Cooperative Banks can play a central role in building it.
Addressing the ‘Sahkar Nav-Kranti’ programme in Mumbai, Shah said Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of a Viksit Bharat by 2047 requires every citizen to become prosperous and not merely rely on capital markets or large enterprises.
He said Urban Cooperative Banks have a crucial role in creating employment and self-employment opportunities by providing financial support to small traders, entrepreneurs, MSMEs, cottage industries, women’s Self-Help Groups and the middle class.
Shah said the strength of the cooperative model lies in pooling small contributions from a large number of people to create substantial capital and build large enterprises. He cited Amul, IFFCO, KRIBHCO and Lijjat Papad as examples of institutions built through collective participation rather than the investment of a single large investor.
He said nearly ₹6 lakh crore is deposited in around 1,400 Urban Cooperative Banks across the country, underlining their importance to the economy and their ability to reach sections of society that large commercial banks may not be able to serve with the same proximity.
“‘Sahkar Se Samriddhi’ does not mean enriching the banks alone; it means ensuring prosperity for both the banks and their customers who generate self-employment,” Shah said.
He said small loans have strong repayment potential and referred to his experience as chairman of an Urban Cooperative Bank, where loans of up to ₹2.5 lakh were provided without guarantee or collateral. The limit has since been raised to ₹5 lakh, he said, adding that almost the entire amount had been recovered with interest.
Shah also said the newly established Umbrella Organisation for Urban Cooperative Banks, NUCFDC, would provide technological, cybersecurity, compliance and training support to the sector.
He said 650 of the nearly 1,400 Urban Cooperative Banks have already joined the organisation and called for all banks to become members within one year.
Shah also launched ‘Bank in a Box’, offering core banking, digital payments, cloud and compliance services through an integrated platform, besides a Security Operations Centre for round-the-clock cyber monitoring.
He said these initiatives would enable even small, single-branch Urban Cooperative Banks to provide modern banking services at affordable costs and compete in the wider banking ecosystem.
