17th Indian Cooperative Congress Introduces Dedicated E-commerce Platform for Cooperatives in Collaboration with Google Cloud

The 17th Indian Cooperative Congress (ICC), the premier gathering of the Indian Cooperative Movement, was hosted by the National Cooperative Union of India. Occurring on July 1-2, 2023, at the International Exhibition-cum-Convention Centre (IECC), Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, the event coincided with International Cooperative Day. During the opening session, the esteemed Prime Minister of India, Shri. Narendra Modi, unveiled a dedicated e-commerce application designed exclusively for Cooperatives.

As the apex organization of the Cooperative movement in India, the National Cooperative Union of India (NCUI) is responsible for the education and training of over 8.5 lakh Cooperatives in the country, boasting a membership exceeding 30 crore individuals. Seeking a scalable platform like Google Cloud, NCUI aimed to host this e-commerce application for its users. Leveraging the power of Google Cloud, the e-commerce platform offers a scalable, user-friendly, and robust technology solution to economically empower Cooperatives and their members by granting them easy access to previously untapped buyers.

This platform enables Cooperatives to sell their products to customers across different regions without the need for intermediaries. Additionally, it provides comprehensive training and capacity-building support to Cooperatives, aiding them in onboarding the portal and excelling in areas such as packaging, branding, and accessing government welfare schemes.

The e-commerce application offers an extensive platform to the vast community of Cooperatives, enabling them to sell their products and services to a broader audience, including their fellow Cooperative members. This partnership aims to foster economic growth, development, and a level playing field for small Cooperatives to compete with larger market players. Moreover, it empowers consumers to make informed choices by selecting the right products within their preferred price range.

Dr. Sudhir Mahajan, Chief Executive of NCUI, stated, “With the launch of the E-commerce application, backed by robust and scalable technology, Cooperatives and their members will have easy access to buying and selling their products to customers nationwide. We believe that our partnership with Google Cloud will drive our digital transformation journey and contribute to the economic empowerment of Cooperatives.”

Bikram Singh Bedi, Managing Director of Google Cloud India, expressed confidence in the collaboration, saying, “NCUI sought a cloud partner offering scalability, open-source technology, and a collaborative approach to enhance their operations. Our cloud platform is poised to provide a seamless experience for their users. We firmly believe that our partnership will equip NCUI with powerful technology solutions that promote the economic growth and empowerment of Cooperatives and their members.”

In anticipation of increasing user numbers and evolving needs, NCUI strategically chose to collaborate with Google Cloud. By leveraging Google Cloud’s scalable, open-source, user-friendly, and standardized cloud platform, NCUI aims to effectively meet the demands of its users. Working alongside Vina Tech Solutions, a Google Cloud partner, NCUI successfully designed and developed the application on the Google Cloud platform. As a result, with the vision of expanding the reach of this pilot project, NCUI and Google Cloud have plans to extend their presence to other regions in the near future.