Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday emphasised the need to link cooperative movement to circular economy and promote international collaboration in the sector. Addressing the ICA Global Cooperative Conference 2024 at the Bharat Mandapam here, Modi said that for India, cooperatives are the basis of culture and a way of life. He further said India sees a huge role for cooperatives in its future growth and in the last 10 years the country has worked to transform the entire ecosystem related to cooperatives. "Our effort is to make cooperative societies multipurpose," he said, adding that with the objective in mind, the government of India created a separate cooperative ministry. Modi said cooperatives are also playing a key role in the housing sector as well as in the banking segment. There are about 2 lakh housing cooperative societies in the country. He said the government has strengthened the cooperative banking sector and reformed it. "India is among the fastest growing econo