By embracing new technologies, cooperatives can redefine their role in India’s economy

The Prime Minister’s clarion call for ‘Sahkar se Samriddhi’—prosperity through cooperation—can become a reality only when cooperatives embrace Industry 4.0 tools that promise efficiency, transparency and sustainable growth. By aligning with the fourth Industrial Revolution, cooperatives are poised to reclaim their role as crucial contributors to inclusive economic growth.

Emerging technologies are reshaping the global marketplace. Indian cooperatives can no longer afford to lag behind. They must embrace Industry 4.0 technologies and adopt innovative business models. The task ahead is clear: they must adopt Internet-of-Things (IoT), big data and smart systems to ensure efficiency, competitiveness and sustainability. This will turn them into engines of inclusive growth as we aim for Viksit Bharat—a developed India—by 2047.

Agricultural cooperatives can use modern farm techniques to optimize production, harvest processes, storage, transportation and distribution.

Cooperative culture promotes the development of supply chains that reach far and wide across a diverse ecosystem, with farmer members, staff, vendors, associates, consumers, et al, united by the common purpose of serving everyone’s interests. With the help of trained human resources, this spirit could unite all involved in modernization efforts to remain relevant in today’s highly competitive business environment.

The Industry 4.0 imperative: Cooperatives must close their technology adoption gaps. Since at least 2008, digital systems have been driving transitions across production systems, with data analytics and widespread networks linking people and processes to enhance productivity. Cooperatives need to harness the same benefits. Timely data sharing would optimize coordination across the value chain from sourcing and production management to quality control and distribution.

While our multinational cooperatives in the dairy and fertilizer sectors, Amul and Iffco, have gone far ahead in adopting modern technology, the need of the hour to encourage and enable 177,000 credit and 677,000 non-credit cooperatives to do likewise.

Globally, cooperatives are embracing technology and innovation to improve their efficiency, transparency, productivity and profitability. Smart-farming cooperatives of the EU have adopted precision tools such as sensors, connected devices and data platforms to enhance yields and reduce waste.

Sweden has witnessed the rise of a robust housing cooperative movement that delivers affordable and eco-friendly urban housing. Indonesia has redesigned its farm cooperatives to improve member service efficiency through better governance and market integration.

The tech application challenge: We already have success models for cooperatives to learn and adapt lessons from. Amul, which stands out as a global cooperative dairy brand, has adopted analytical tools and IoT solutions to automate various key functions, ranging from milk production and processing to cold-chain management, logistics and distribution.

Consumer-facing cooperatives can leverage big data and cloud platforms to gain deeper insights into customer preferences. The integration of IoT and cloud-based analytics is vital for consumer cooperatives to manage large-scale self-service system technology and point-of-sale networks. The usage of virtual reality tools is also gaining prominence as a way to enhance product demonstrations, communication, content delivery and consumer engagement.

Agrarian cooperatives in general and sugar cooperatives in particular could benefit from cloud and IoT technologies that support storing, processing and analyzing large volumes of data. On the ground, radio frequency identification and drones coordinated by artificial intelligence (AI) are emerging as key enablers of precision farming, value addition and efficient resource management. Machine learning and AI applications can support decision making for improved productivity.

Credit cooperatives are witnessing a digital shift as India’s credit sector comes to increasingly rely on technology solutions. Big data analytics, AI and blockchain-based systems are being encouraged to strengthen creditworthiness assessments, credit management and customer relationships.

In industrial cooperatives, AI and IoT, coupled with robotic automation, are considered critical to boost productivity and profitability. New technologies also have a role in ensuring regulatory compliance and elevating customer satisfaction.

Fishery cooperatives could use analytical tools, GPS, cloud computing, machine learning and remote sensing to improve outcomes and enhance income opportunities.

Service cooperatives may find significant value in deploying cyber-physical systems, cloud computing platforms, IoT and AI to achieve greater operational efficiency through cost optimization and streamlined business processes.

Globally, cooperatives are reinventing themselves through modern technology, effective governance and active member engagement. Indian cooperatives must not only keep up, but aim to go further.

To go digital effectively, they should set simple goals and follow step-by-step and flexible strategies. Industry 4.0 tools can drive efficiency and sustainability, while simple goals and flexible strategies would help cooperatives make a step-wise transition to a digital future. By embracing change, our cooperatives can register profit with purpose and help power India’s journey towards Viksit Bharat.

These are the authors’ personal views.

The authors are, respectively, chairman and joint secretary, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister.