Structuring Success: The Architecture of Co-operative Training and Education under NCUI

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India’s cooperative sector employs millions and touches the lives of hundreds of millions more – from dairy farmers in Gujarat to weavers in Manipur. Yet the effectiveness of any cooperative ultimately depends on the quality of the people running it. Recognising this early on, India built a dedicated, multi-tiered architecture of training and education for cooperative personnel. At the heart of this system sits the National Co-operative Union of India (NCUI) and its training arm, the National Council for Co-operative Training (NCCT). Together, they have shaped one of the most structured human resource development frameworks in any sector of the Indian economy.

Table of Contents

The origins: from a committee to a council

The story of cooperative training in India begins in 1953, when the Government of India, jointly with the Reserve Bank of India, constituted a Central Committee for Co-operative Training. Its mandate was straightforward – plan and organise training for personnel employed in cooperative departments and institutions across the country. This was a recognition that cooperatives needed professionally trained human resources, not just well-meaning volunteers.

In 1962, the responsibility for cooperative training was formally handed over to the NCUI. By 1976, the earlier committee was replaced by the National Council for Co-operative Training (NCCT), created as a body under bye-law 16A of the NCUI. A major structural shift came in 2018, when NCCT became an autonomous society registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860, promoted by the Ministry of Co-operation, Government of India – giving it greater administrative independence to pursue its mandate.

Today, NCCT is the only apex-level cooperative training council in the country funded and governed by the Ministry of Co-operation. Its core responsibility is to organise, direct, monitor, and evaluate all cooperative training arrangements for personnel working in the sector nationwide.

The three-tier training structure

The most defining feature of NCCT’s approach is its three-tier hierarchical training structure, designed to cater to cooperative personnel at every level – from a senior executive at a national federation to a junior employee at a village-level cooperative. This structure comprises VAMNICOM at the apex, followed by Regional Institutes of Co-operative Management (RICMs), and then Institutes of Co-operative Management (ICMs) spread across state capitals, with Junior Training Centres (JTCs) rounding out coverage at the grassroots.

VAMNICOM – the national apex institute

At the top of this pyramid stands the Vaikunth Mehta National Institute of Co-operative Management (VAMNICOM), located in Pune, Maharashtra. Its origins trace back to 1964, when a high-level group under the chairmanship of Prof. D.R. Gadgil recommended the creation of a national institute to assess and address the training needs of the cooperative sector. The institute was formally named after the doyen of India’s cooperative movement, Shri Vaikunth Mehta, in 1967.

VAMNICOM is accredited by AICTE and is an ISO 9001:2015 certified institution affiliated with Savitribai Phule Pune University. It targets senior-level cooperative executives and offers programmes including a Post-Graduate Diploma in Management (PGDM) in Agri-Business Management, a PG Diploma in Co-operative Business Management, and an Executive PGDM. Its PGDM is considered equivalent to an MBA. The institute operates through seven specialised centres, including the Centre for Co-operative Management, Centre for Research & Publication, Centre for Gender Studies, and Centre for Entrepreneurship Development – reflecting the breadth of issues it engages with.

Regional Institutes of Co-operative Management (RICMs)

Below VAMNICOM in the hierarchy are five Regional Institutes of Co-operative Management (RICMs), located at Chandigarh, Bangalore, Kalyani (West Bengal), Gandhinagar, and Patna. These institutes serve the training requirements of cooperative personnel at the intermediate and middle-management level, typically addressing the needs of officials from specific regional clusters of states.

The RICM Bengaluru, for instance, was established in 1962 initially to serve the erstwhile Mysore and Kerala states, and was later upgraded in 1995 to serve the broader southern region. It is recognised by SEBI and C-PEC for conducting specialised training. RICMs deliver both long-term diploma programmes and short-term courses, and many run programmes under the Directorate General Resettlement (DGR) scheme, which helps armed forces personnel transition into civilian cooperative careers. Recent infrastructure upgrades – like the ₹27.29 crore grant to RICM Patna under RKVY for a new hostel – signal continued government investment in strengthening these institutions.

Institutes of Co-operative Management (ICMs)

The next tier consists of 14 Institutes of Co-operative Management (ICMs) located at state capitals: Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Dehradun, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Imphal, Jaipur, Kannur, Lucknow, Madurai, Nagpur, Pune, and Thiruvananthapuram. ICMs serve junior to middle-level cooperative officials and members, providing sector-specific training programmes tailored to the cooperative activities prominent in each state or region.

Each ICM operates under a Management Committee constituted by the NCCT Governing Council, and each has a Programme Advisory Committee chaired by the Registrar of Co-operative Societies of the respective state – ensuring that training content stays relevant to local cooperative realities. ICMs deliver programmes ranging from 12-week cooperative sector diploma programmes (in areas like dairy, handloom, urban cooperative banks, cooperative audit, and fisheries) to one-to-five-day short-term workshops for board directors, CEOs, and cooperative members.

Junior Training Centres (JTCs)

The outermost and most grassroots layer of the structure consists of 107 Junior Training Centres (JTCs) located in far-flung areas across the states. JTCs are designed to reach cooperative workers, members, and local leaders who may not have the resources or access to travel to state capitals or regional centres. Their programmes are shorter, more basic, and directly relevant to day-to-day cooperative operations at the village or block level. This layer is critical to ensuring that the cooperative training ecosystem doesn’t remain an urban or semi-urban privilege.

The role of NCCE within NCUI

Distinct from the NCCT structure but operating under the NCUI umbrella is the National Centre for Co-operative Education (NCCE), established in 1958. While NCCT handles training for cooperative employees and officials, NCCE focuses on cooperative education for a broader audience – including cooperative members, elected directors, university lecturers, and grassroots education instructors.

The NCCE offers a Diploma Programme in Co-operative Education and Development, Leadership Development Programmes for Chairpersons and Directors of cooperatives, and orientation courses for university and college faculty who teach cooperative subjects. It also runs Refresher Courses for Cooperative Education Instructors attached to State and District Cooperative Unions. In a recent initiative, NCUI signed an MoU with Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan to introduce cooperative education in school curricula – a long-term effort to build awareness from an early age.

Governance of the NCCT structure

NCCT operates through a clearly defined governance framework. The Minister of Co-operation, Government of India is the President of both the NCCT and its Governing Council. The Minister of State and the Secretary, Ministry of Co-operation, serve as Vice Presidents. The Additional Secretary, Ministry of Co-operation, chairs the Executive Council, which handles administrative and financial matters. At the institute level, each RICM and ICM has its own Management Committee and Programme Advisory Committee to provide localised oversight and ensure programme relevance.

All RICMs and ICMs under NCCT are accredited by the Centre for Professional Excellence in Co-operatives (C-PEC) of the Bankers Institute of Rural Development (BIRD), NABARD, ensuring that training quality meets defined national standards. Faculty members have also been certified as trainers for banking and financial cooperatives through C-PEC’s Certified Trainer for Financial Co-operatives (CTFC) course.

Types of training programmes offered

The NCCT network delivers a wide range of programmes calibrated to different levels and durations. Long-term programmes include two-year PGDM courses at VAMNICOM and Higher Diploma in Co-operative Management (HDCM) at ICMs. Cooperative Sector Diploma Programmes of 12 weeks focus on specific sectors such as dairy, handloom, cooperative audit, urban cooperative banks, industrial cooperatives, housing, fisheries, and computer applications. Short-term programmes, ranging from one to five days, are designed for employees, board directors, CEOs, and cooperative members, with highly targeted content. NCCT also runs programmes under the SOFTCOB scheme in collaboration with NABARD, aimed at strengthening operational skills in cooperative banking.

The scale of impact is significant: in the financial year 2023-24 alone, NCCT conducted 3,619 training programmes, reaching over 2.21 lakh individuals across the country.

Why this structure matters

The NCUI-NCCT training architecture isn’t just an organisational chart – it’s an attempt to solve a real and persistent problem: the professionalism gap in India’s cooperative sector. Cooperatives often fail not because of a flawed model but because of weak governance, inadequate financial literacy among leaders, or poor management practices at the ground level. By providing targeted training at every tier – from the village-level member to the national-level executive – this structure tries to close that gap systematically.

The ongoing investment in infrastructure (new hostels, smart campuses, updated curricula), the collaboration with bodies like NABARD and SEBI, and the expansion of cooperative education into schools all point to a maturing ecosystem that recognises training not as an optional add-on but as a foundational pillar of cooperative success.

What do you think? Given that 107 Junior Training Centres operate in remote areas to train grassroots cooperative members, do you think this decentralised model is sufficient to address the professionalism deficit in rural cooperatives? And with VAMNICOM now offering PGDM programmes equivalent to an MBA, should cooperative management be positioned as a mainstream career track in India’s business education landscape?

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References
  1. https://www.ncui.coop/about-ncui
  2. https://www.cooperation.gov.in/ncct
  3. https://icmdehradun.com/about-ncct/
  4. https://www.cooperation.gov.in/en/vamnicom
  5. https://ricmb.ac.in/
  6. https://www.indiancooperative.com/co-op-news-snippets/ricm-patna-gets-handsome-grant-icm-guwahati-and-madurai-to-shift/
  7. https://ncui.coop/cooperative-education
  8. https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2083301
  9. https://www.indiancooperative.com/featured/ncct-boosts-co-ops-through-nationwide-leadership-training/
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Co-operation – Genesis, Principles, Values, Growth and Development

1 Genesis of Co-operative Movement in India and Few Selected Countries

  1. Characteristics of Co-operative Enterprise
  2. Objectives of Co-operation
  3. Origin and Development of Co-operative Movement in India
  4. History of the Co-operative Movement in India up to 1947
  5. England (Consumer Co-operative Movement)
  6. Germany (Raiffeisen and Schulze)
  7. Dairy Co-operatives in Denmark
  8. Co-operatives in Israel (Collective Farming)
  9. New Age Co-operatives

2 Development of Co-operative Principles and Values including ICA Restated Principles, 1995

  1. International Co-operative Alliance (ICA)
  2. Rochdale Principles
  3. ICA Statement on Co-operative Identity – 1995
  4. Principles of 1995 Co-operative Statement
  5. Co-operative Values

3 Co-operative Autonomy, Distinctive Features of Democratice Management in Co-operatives vis-a-vis Companies

  1. Nature of Co-operatives
  2. Principles of Co-operatives
  3. Democratic Member Control as a Restated Principle (1995)
  4. Features of a Co-operative
  5. Comparison between a Co-operative and Company

4 Co-operative Policy and Support at Centre and States (After 1990)

  1. Model Co-operative Law
  2. Andhra Pradesh Mutually Aided Co-operative Societies Act 1995
  3. Enactment of Multi-State Co-operative Societies Act 2002
  4. National Co-operative Policy 2002
  5. Vaidyanathan Committee Recommendations

5 Phase-I 1st to 3rd Five Year Plan

  1. First Five Year Plan (1951-1956)
  2. Second Five Year Plan (1956-1961)
  3. Third Five Year Plan (1961-1966)

6 Phase-II 4th to 8th Five Year Plan

  1. Introduction
  2. Fourth Five Year Plan (1969-1974)
  3. Fifth Five Year Plan (1974-1979)
  4. Sixth Five Year Plan (1980-1985)
  5. Seventh Five Year Plan (1985-1990)
  6. Eighth Five Year Plan (1992-1997)

7 Phase-III 9th to 11th Five Year Plan

  1. Ninth Five Year Plan (1997-2002)
  2. Tenth Five Year Plan (2002-2007)
  3. Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-2012)

8 Present Status of Co-Operative Movement

  1. Spread of Co-operatives
  2. Share of Co-operatives in National Economy
  3. Significance of Co-operative Movement
  4. Important Sectors of Co-operative Movement
  5. Problems of Co-operative Movement
  6. Issues/Challenges before Co-operative Movement

9 Types of Co-Operatives

  1. Co-operative Marketing
  2. Co-operative Processing
  3. Co-operative Farming
  4. Consumer Co-operative
  5. Industrial Co-operatives
  6. Housing Co-operatives
  7. Dairy Co-operative
  8. Fishery Co-operatives
  9. Transport Co-operatives
  10. Education Societies
  11. Labour Co-operatives
  12. Hospital Co-operatives
  13. Agri-tourism Co-operatives

10 Study of Co-Operative Credit Institutions

  1. Origin
  2. Co-operative Rural Credit Institutions in India
  3. Credit Co-operative Movement after Independence
  4. Long Term Credit
  5. Co-operative Rural Credit Institutions – Issues
  6. Non-Agricultural Co-operative Credit Institutions

11 Study of Marketing, Consumer, Processing Co-Operatives

  1. Marketing Co-operative
  2. Consumer Co-operative
  3. Sugar Co-operative
  4. Dairy Co-operative

12 Study of Co-Operatives for Weaker Section– Labour, Tribal, Fishery, Weavers, Women

  1. Importance of Weaker Section Co-operatives
  2. Different Weaker Section Co-operatives
  3. Fishery Co-operatives
  4. Tribal Co-operatives
  5. Labour Co-operatives
  6. Weavers’ Co-operatives
  7. Women Co-operatives

13 Study of Other Types of Co-Operatives- Housing, Fertilizer

  1. Housing Co-operatives
  2. Fertilizer Co-operatives
  3. Health Co-operatives
  4. Tourism Co-operatives
  5. Tree Growers’ Co-operative Societies

14 Findings and Recommendations of Important Committees (1954- 1989)

  1. All India Rural Credit Survey Committee Report – 1954
  2. Committee on Co-operation – 1965
  3. All India Rural Credit Review Committee (AIRCRC) – 1969
  4. Madhava Das Committee – 1978
  5. Report of the Committee on Co-operative Law for Democratisation and Professionalisation of Management in Co-operatives – 1987
  6. Report of the Agricultural Credit Review Committee – 1989

15 Findings and Recommendations of Important Committees (1991- 2010)

  1. Report of the Committee on Model Co-operative Act – 1991
  2. Report of the Committee on Licensing of New Urban Co-operative Banks
  3. Report of the Task Force on Revival of Rural Co-operative Credit Institutions (2005)
  4. Report of the High Powered Committee on Co-operatives (2009)

16 Role of Regulatory and Development Institutions for Co-operative Movement

  1. Role Functions of Reserve Bank of India
  2. Role Functions of NABARD
  3. Role Functions of NCDC
  4. Role Functions of NDDB
  5. Promotional Role of Registrar of Co-operative Societies in Co-operative Development

17 Co-Operative Training and Education

  1. Evolution of Co-operative Training and Education
  2. Structure of Co-operative Training and Education under NCUI
  3. Co-operative Training and Education Facilities in Junior Training Centres in States
  4. Co-operative Training and Education provided by other Co-operative Organizations