Export body to push India-made products

Several agencies are working together to achieve a broader goal of exploring the market for India-made products globally.

The Government of India wants to achieve this goal by giving a boost to the cooperative movement and thus reaching the grassroots level for the exploration of products and working as a facilitator for their export.

This was revealed by media reports after the recently concluded two-day conference involving sector-wide participation from Centre, State, and private sector institutions.

The conference witnessed the participation of cooperation ministers from 21 states, Lt Governors, and senior officials from respective departments.

Newly proposed schemes of the Ministry of Cooperation drew maximum attention from the participants, as they stored the basis for the government’s ambitious plan of reaching out to the world with Indian products.

The schemes included PACS (Primary Agricultural Credit Society) in every Panchayat to boost cooperative movement and credit institutions at the grassroots level.

It had an emphasis on the export of agro-based products, promotion and marketing of organic products, and expansion of cooperatives to new areas.

To give a boost to the cooperatives for export, the Ministry of Cooperation is facilitating the registration of a National Level Cooperative Export House under the Multi-State Cooperative Societies (MSCS) Act 2002.

This is aimed at harnessing the export potential of nearly 300 million people associated with the Country’s cooperative movement.

There is a move to computerize and introduce modern bye-laws for the PACS and arrange long-term financing for primary cooperative societies like milk cooperative societies and fish cooperative societies.

In his conference deliberations, Gyanesh Kumar, Secretary, Ministry of Cooperation, stressed equipping the PACS with “state of the art software along with up-to-date hardware.” He exhorted states to work on a priority basis.

“A multi-state cooperative society is being registered for production, procurement, branding, and marketing of organic products and quality seeds... the ministry has been taking action to ensure that cooperatives are treated at par with the other economic forms,” he added.