INTRODUCTION
The year 2025 – declared as the International Year of Cooperatives by the United Nations – provides a timely opportunity to recognize and highlight the contributions of womenled cooperatives in fostering economic resilience, social security, and community-driven enterprise development. Women’s cooperatives have a demonstrated capacity to generate sustainable livelihoods, facilitate formalization for informal workers, and income and social security for their members. However, according to the Ministry of Cooperation, out of 8.5 lakh cooperatives in India, less than 3% are women-led. Challenges such as access to finance, compliance requirements, market linkages and the lack of a regulatory environment to facilitate ease of doing business persist. These are further compounded by impacts of the external environment including evolving market conditions, technology and climate change.
A national conference titled ‘Women’s Cooperatives, 2025: Building a Resilient and Equitable Future’, was jointly conducted by the SEWA Cooperative Federation and Vaikunth Mehta National Institute of Cooperative Management (VAMNICOM) to discuss and find actionable solutions to these challenges. The conference was held on the 9th and 10th of June, 2025, and attended by 140 grassroot cooperative leaders, government representatives, and practitioners from ten Indian states. Through meaningful dialogue and critical discussions, the conference focused on lateral learning across cooperatives, and brought out actionable strategies to promote the longterm financial viability, institutional recognition, and improved investment in women’s cooperatives and their leadership in the cooperative movement in India.
