COLOMBO, November 29, 2025 — The 17th ICA–AP Regional Assembly in Colombo, Sri Lanka, hosted a powerful and insightful discussion during a session titled “Tackling the Cooperative Capital Conundrum with Resilient Financing.”
Experts from across the Asia–Pacific region shared transformative ideas on strengthening cooperative capital, making it one of the most engaging sessions of the event.
Chaired by Iyer Balasubramanian, Regional Director of ICA–AP [International Cooperative Alliance-Asia Pacific], the panel brought together leading thinkers to address the evolving financial needs of the cooperative sector.
A key highlight was a comprehensive presentation by India’s veteran cooperator Satish Marathe, entitled “Avenues & Instruments for Raising Capital & Long-Term Funds by Cooperatives in India.”
Marathe delivered one of the day’s most detailed analyses, explaining India’s legal and regulatory framework for cooperative capital.
He outlined the inherent challenges of raising long-term funds while safeguarding democratic member control, and drew parallels with global cooperative models that have successfully adopted hybrid capital structures.
Marathe also gave an overview of India’s current instruments for capital mobilisation, including member share capital, statutory reserves, funding channels through National Bank of Agriculture and Rural Development [NABARD] and the National Cooperative Development Corporation [NCDC], assistance from Small Industries Development Bank of India [SIDBI] and housing finance institutions, long-term borrowings, and various deposit instruments such as fixed, recurring and senior citizen deposits.
Building on this, he identified critical gaps in India’s cooperative capital ecosystem and proposed a wide range of reforms. These included enabling non-voting shares, issuing cooperative bonds, adopting patronage-based equity, developing hybrid capital instruments akin to AT1 and Tier-2 structures, and establishing a National Cooperative Investment Fund to provide long-term equity support for cooperatives.
He further emphasised the importance of capacity-building through digital MIS systems, stronger risk management, governance reforms and structured reserves. “India’s cooperative sector stands at a historic turning point, with the Ministry of Cooperation and strengthened institutions like NABARD and the NCDC offering unprecedented opportunities,” Marathe observed.
The session also featured insights from international experts, including Anitha Munasinghe of the Solidaridad Network and Professor Sidsel Grimstad, who shared global experiences on worker-owned transitions, social-impact investment and climate-linked financing strategies.
In its concluding note, the session underscored that cooperatives across the Asia–Pacific region must adopt innovative financing models and forward-looking policy reforms if they are to remain resilient, competitive and inclusive in a rapidly changing economic landscape.
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