Two centuries ago when the Cooperative movement emerged, markets were dominant and unmindful of the well being of consumers. The Rochdale Pioneers demonstrated the cooperative ability not only to help survival of the people but also of indirectly forcing the market to behave. The preoccupation of the government with the cooperative sector and its potential for bringing about development, right up to the nineties, resulted in an increase in the number of cooperatives and their contribution, making the Indian cooperative movement one of the largest movements of
its kind in the world.