"Reviving defunct cooperative industrial units can anchor value within the cooperative ecosystem." Examine with reference to recent initiatives.

Recent cooperative policy under "Sahkar se Samriddhi" is trying to turn shut cooperative factories back into working assets. The 2026 Bhoomi Pujan to revive the National Heavy Engineering Cooperative (NHEC) at Talegaon Dabhade, Pune, is the clearest example [1]. It shows how revival can keep value inside the cooperative sector, but only if the business can pay its own way.

How revival anchors value: the NHEC case

• Closed-loop ownership: NDDB, Amul, IFFCO, NCDC and NABARD are investing, so profits stay with cooperative institutions and do not go to private equipment makers [1].
• Self-reliance: NHEC once exported sugar machinery to 11 countries. Its phase-1 line (sugar-mill and dairy equipment, power plants for mills, CBG plants) aims to cut import dependence [1].
• Circular economy: CBG plants turn cattle dung and sugar by-products into energy, which gives farmers extra income [1].
• Diversification: phase 2 adds containers for railways, defence and exports [1].
• Turnaround template: an NDDB administrator, completed audits and a reconstituted board came first [1]. This fits the "sick society" provisions (ss. 63A–63C) of the 2023 MSCS amendment [4].

Limits and risks

• Weak buyers: NHEC's main customers are cooperative sugar mills, which needed about Rs 15,000 crore in relief [1]. If they stay weak, the order book stays thin.
• Captive governance: the funders, the managers and the likely buyers are all part of the same group of cooperative institutions. No outside investor checks whether the business makes commercial sense.
• No public benchmarks: no project cost, capacity or break-even year has been disclosed. Only the land (~110 acres) and a target date (before December 2027) are known [1].
• Scale problem: 76 multi-state societies were under liquidation in December 2022 [2]. One-off, top-down rescues cannot be repeated for all of them.

Way forward

• Publish NHEC's business plan and audited accounts.
• Route revivals through the statutory Co-operative Rehabilitation, Reconstruction and Development Fund, with clear entry rules [3].
• Bring in professional management and independent board members.
• Link order books to demand from ethanol and CBG programmes.

Revival can keep value inside the cooperative sector by linking ownership, production and farmer income. To last, it must move from a showcase rescue to a rule-based, transparent and commercially tested process. That is how "Sahkar se Samriddhi" can deliver inclusive growth in line with SDG 8.