Sri Lanka has launched a National Digital Portal for cooperative member registration, a move officials described as a significant step towards integrating the country’s long-established cooperative sector with modern digital technology.
The portal was launched on Tuesday at an event held under the patronage of Deputy Minister of Cooperative Development Upali Samarasinghe. He said the system was not merely a technological project but the first step in a national programme aimed at improving transparency across the cooperative sector and strengthening public trust.
The new platform is designed to collect member information from across the country in a secure and systematic manner through a single, unified national database. The absence of an integrated and up-to-date digital record had been a major challenge for the sector, the Deputy Minister said, and the portal is intended to close that gap.
Sri Lanka has more than 14,000 registered cooperative societies, of which 8,963 are currently active, with a combined membership of nearly 8.7 million people, based on 2017 figures. The sector provides employment for more than 39,000 people, with a significant contribution from women.
Beyond registration, the programme aims to attract greater youth participation, encourage women entrepreneurs and establish digital marketplaces for rural products. Officials said the wider goal is to develop Sri Lanka’s cooperative movement in line with international standards while improving accountability within societies that serve millions of members nationwide.
