Amit Shah Inaugurates EARTH Summit 2025 in Gandhinagar

On 5 December 2025, Amit Shah, Union Home & Cooperation Minister, inaugurated the EARTH Summit 2025 in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. Alongside the summit launch, he unveiled over 13 new services and products under the newly introduced Sahakar Sarathi initiative — signalling a major push to modernise India’s cooperative and rural banking sector and strengthen the rural economy.

What Is EARTH Summit 2025 and Sahakar Sarathi?

The EARTH Summit is a nationwide series of summits (this is the second edition) aimed at addressing challenges in agriculture, animal husbandry, cooperatives and allied rural sectors through policy dialogues and actionable solutions. The third and final summit will culminate with a policy framework in Delhi next year.

As part of this push, Sahakar Sarathi — a joint initiative by NABARD and the Ministry of Cooperation — aims to provide a unified digital infrastructure for rural cooperative banks and banks associated with cooperatives, enabling them to operate with advanced banking technology comparable to commercial banks.

Under Sahakar Sarathi, cooperative banks will gain access to services including internet banking, UPI, AEPS, core banking, loan origination, e‑KYC, and real‑time tracking — all under a shared services model.

Key Services and Products Launched

Among the 13+ offerings unveiled at the Summit are,

• Digi KCC — a fully digitised version of Kisan Credit Cards for farmers
• Campaign Sarathi & Website Sarathi — digital tools for outreach and governance
• Cooperative Governance Index — a first-of-its-kind index to assess the governance quality of cooperative banks and institutions
• ePACS — digital platform for PACS (Primary Agricultural Credit Societies) operations
• World’s Largest Grain Storage Application — for efficient grain management and tracking
• Shiksha Sarathi & Sarathi Technology Forum — for training, capacity building, and tech‑framework support for cooperatives

Other tech‑enabled services to cover loan disbursal, recovery, documentation, compliance, appraisal, and more.

Major New Initiatives: Sahakar Taxi & Cooperative Insurance

• Beyond banking reforms, the Summit also saw the launch of Sahakar Taxi — a cooperative-based taxi service currently in pilot phase. Over 51,000 drivers have already registered, and the plan is to scale it to become India’s largest cooperative taxi company.
• Additionally, a cooperative insurance scheme — covering health, life, agriculture, accident, and allied sectors — was announced. The vision includes appointing three youth per village as cooperative‑insurance ambassadors, aiming to deepen insurance and social security penetration in rural India.

Key Facts

• Event: EARTH Summit 2025 (2nd edition)
• Date & Place: 5 December 2025, Gandhinagar, Gujarat
• Initiative launched: Sahakar Sarathi by NABARD & Ministry of Cooperation
• Number of services/products launched: 13+ digital services under Sahakar Sarathi
• Major new schemes: Sahakar Taxi (cooperative taxi network) and Cooperative Insurance
• Target cooperative membership: Over 50 crore people across India