The National Statistics Office (NSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Government of India is organizing an All-India Workshop of Trainers (AIWOT) for the Rapid Survey of Functional Cooperatives (RSFC) at Scope, Lodhi Road, New Delhi on March 25, 2026. This survey will be conducted for a period of six months starting from April 2026. The AIWOT is a preparatory training programme prior to the launch of the field work of the survey on all India basis.

The workshop will be attended by senior officers from the various divisions of NSO, MoSPI and Ministry of Cooperation (MoC). Field functionaries from all Zonal, Regional and Sub-Regional offices of the Field Operations Division (FOD) will also be participating in the workshop who will serve as the Master Trainers for subsequent Regional Trainings.

The Rapid Survey on Functional Cooperatives aims to understand the contribution of functional cooperatives in terms of employment generation and economic contribution. The survey will cover both rural and urban areas nationwide and include around 30 sectors such as credit, dairy, fishery, and housing cooperatives. It aims to estimate key economic indicators including Gross Value Added (GVA), Gross Value of Output (GVO), and employment generated by cooperatives, thereby helping quantify their contribution to GDP and supporting evidence-based policy formulation. The survey will use a list frame derived from the National Cooperative Database (NCD) and data will be captured through web portal by experienced and trained officials of NSO(FOD).

Functional cooperatives survey training set to standardise nationwide data collection and measure economic contribution. Preparatory training was organised for the Rapid Survey of Functional Cooperatives before six months of field work beginning in April 2026. The workshop brought together senior officers and field functionaries who will serve as Master Trainers for subsequent regional training, with the aim of standardising nationwide survey operations. The survey will assess the contribution of functional cooperatives to employment generation and economic activity across rural and urban areas, and will estimate indicators such as Gross Value Added, Gross Value of Output and employment generated by cooperatives.