Dileep Sanghani, Chairman of the Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO), has been elected as an At-Large Director to the Global Board of the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) for the 2026 to 2030 term. The election took place on 15 September 2026 at the ICA General Assembly held at the Panama Convention Centre in Panama City. At the same meeting, Dr Ariel Guarco of Argentina was re-elected unopposed as ICA President for the same four year term.
What Was Decided at the ICA General Assembly in Panama?
The ICA General Assembly in Panama elected 16 cooperative leaders from 16 countries for the 2026 to 2030 mandate. The group includes the ICA President and 15 At-Large Directors chosen directly by the members. The Assembly met on 15 September 2026 at the Panama Convention Centre during the ICA Global Conference week.
The ICA General Assembly elected Dr Ariel Guarco unopposed as President. The ICA General Assembly also elected 15 At-Large Directors from 24 candidates in the race. Seven of those elected are returning directors and eight are new to the ICA Board. The previous elective General Assembly was held in Seville in Spain in 2022.
The Panama vote saw participation from 116 voters representing 193 member organisations from 66 countries. The ICA conference week was held under the theme Building Bridges, with focus on cooperative contributions to a peaceful world. Dileep Sanghani was India’s sole candidate on the At-Large ballot and secured 526 votes to finish among the elected members. His election gives India direct representation on the highest governing body of the global cooperative movement for the next four years.
What Does an At-Large Director Mean?
An At-Large Director in the ICA is a board member elected directly by the General Assembly to represent the global cooperative movement as a whole, not a specific region or sector. Only one At-Large Director can be elected from the same country at a time.
This post is different from other seats on the ICA Board. Four Vice Presidents represent the four ICA regions of Africa, Americas, Asia and Pacific, and Europe. Eight other members are nominated by the eight sectoral organisations for areas like agriculture, banking, fisheries, health, housing, insurance, retail and industry. The Presidents of the Youth Committee and the Gender Equality Committee also sit on the Board. At-Large Directors fill the remaining elected seats and ensure that countries with large cooperative movements have a direct voice in global decisions.
Who Is Dileep Sanghani?
Dileep Nanubhai Sanghani is an Indian cooperative leader from Amreli in Gujarat and the Chairman of IFFCO (as of September 2026). Born on 12 May 1954 into a farming family and trained as a lawyer, he holds BA, BCom and LLB degrees. He has worked in the cooperative sector for more than three decades and is known for his focus on farmer prosperity and rural institutions.
Sanghani has a long record in public life. He represented the Amreli constituency in the Lok Sabha for four terms from 1991 to 2004 and served thrice as a Member of the Gujarat Legislative Assembly. He served as a state minister for roads, building, fisheries and prisons in 1990 and 1991. He later served as Cabinet Minister for Agriculture, Cooperation, Animal Husbandry, Fisheries, Law and Justice and Legislative Affairs in Gujarat from 2007 to 2012.
In the cooperative sector, Sanghani has held several top posts. He has served as Chairman of the Gujarat State Cooperative Marketing Federation (GUJCOMASOL) since 2017. He served as Vice Chairman of IFFCO from 2019 and was unanimously elected President of the National Cooperative Union of India (NCUI) in November 2020. NCUI is the apex body of cooperatives in India. He was then unanimously elected as the 17th Chairman of IFFCO in January 2022 after serving as acting Chairman from October 2021. He led India’s hosting of the ICA Global Conference and General Assembly in New Delhi in November 2024, where the United Nations International Year of Cooperatives 2025 was launched.
What Is IFFCO?
IFFCO stands for Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited. It is India’s largest fertiliser cooperative, registered on 3 November 1967 in New Delhi. It is owned by more than 36,000 member cooperatives and serves over 50 million farmers across India.
IFFCO was registered as a multi unit cooperative society with only 57 member societies and a share capital of ₹5.5 lakh. The idea was to give farmers their own production base at a time when cooperatives marketed nearly 70 percent of fertilisers but owned no plants. IFFCO is now registered as a Multi State Cooperative Society and is fully owned by cooperatives. Its head office is at IFFCO Sadan in Saket, New Delhi.
Over five decades IFFCO has grown into one of the world’s largest cooperatives. It was ranked as the second largest cooperative in the world by turnover on GDP per capita in the World Cooperative Monitor 2025. IFFCO makes and markets urea, DAP, NPK, water soluble fertilisers, bio fertilisers and nano fertilisers. It runs large plants at Kalol and Kandla in Gujarat, Phulpur and Aonla in Uttar Pradesh, and Paradeep in Odisha, along with nano fertiliser plants. It has also built joint ventures in India and abroad, including operations linked to Oman, Jordan and Senegal. IFFCO has been a member of the ICA since 1980.
Is IFFCO a Government Company or a Private Company?
IFFCO is neither a government company nor a private company. It is a cooperative society owned and controlled by its member cooperatives for the benefit of farmers. It works on the cooperative principle of one member one vote, not on government ownership or private profit.
This distinction matters for understanding its role. A government company is owned by the central or state government. A private company is owned by private shareholders. IFFCO is owned by cooperatives themselves, and its surplus is used for farmer services, plant growth and cooperative development. It works closely with governments on food security and fertiliser supply, but it is not a public sector undertaking and its jobs are not government jobs.
What Is the International Cooperative Alliance?
The International Cooperative Alliance is the global apex body of cooperatives, founded on 19 August 1895 in London. It represents more than 330 member organisations from over 100 countries and about one billion cooperative members worldwide. Its global office is in Brussels in Belgium.
The ICA is one of the oldest non governmental organisations in the world. Delegates from countries including India attended its first congress in London in 1895. The ICA defines and defends the cooperative identity through its values and seven cooperative principles. Its members come from all parts of the economy, including agriculture, banking, consumer retail, fisheries, health, housing, insurance, and industry and services.
The ICA works through a Global Office in Brussels and four regional offices for Africa in Nairobi, the Americas in San Jose, Asia and Pacific in New Delhi, and Europe in Brussels. It also has eight global sectoral organisations and thematic committees for youth, gender equality, research, law and development. India has a central place in this network. India hosted the ICA Global Cooperative Conference and General Assembly for the first time in the 130 year history of the ICA at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi from 25 to 30 November 2024. The meeting launched the United Nations International Year of Cooperatives 2025 under the theme Cooperatives Build a Better World and adopted the New Delhi Action Agenda for future cooperation.
How Is the 30 Member ICA Global Board Structured?
The ICA Board is the body that guides the work of the ICA between General Assemblies. The ICA rules allow a Board of 20 to 30 directors. For the 2026 to 2030 term the Board has its full strength of 30 members. The balance between regions, sectors and directly elected leaders keeps the Board representative of the whole movement.
| Category on the Board | Number of Seats | How Members Are Chosen |
|---|---|---|
| President | 1 | Elected directly by the General Assembly |
| At-Large Directors | 15 | Elected directly by the General Assembly, with only one member from the same country |
| Regional Vice Presidents | 4 | Presidents of the four ICA regions for Africa, Americas, Asia and Pacific, and Europe |
| Sectoral Representatives | 8 | Nominated by the eight sectoral organisations and confirmed by the General Assembly |
| Youth and Gender Committees | 2 | Presidents of the Youth Committee and the Gender Equality Committee |
For the new term the four Vice Presidents are Macloud Malonza for Africa, Jose Alves de Souza Neto for the Americas, Chandrapal Singh Yadav for Asia and Pacific, and Giuseppe Guerini for Europe. The eight sectoral seats cover health, housing, fisheries, insurance, banking, agriculture, consumer cooperatives, and industry and services. After separate Youth and Gender Equality Committee elections, Harsh Sanghani and Xiomara Nunez de Cespedes will also join the Board.
Why This Election Matters for India
The ICA election gives India a direct voice in the apex body that sets the direction for cooperatives across the world. India is home to about 800,000 cooperatives and nearly 290 million cooperative members, the largest such base in any country. A seat on the 30 member Board allows India to share its experience in dairy, agriculture, banking and fertilisers, and to shape global rules on cooperative identity, finance and data.
The timing adds to the importance. The election comes at the close of the United Nations International Year of Cooperatives 2025, when world leaders agreed to observe such a year every decade. The ICA has also adopted its 2026 to 2030 strategy based on practice, promotion and protection, with work focused on people, data, advocacy, finance and the future. The new Board will carry this plan forward and will decide on membership fees and voting rights. The next ICA General Assembly will be held before 1 July 2027.
The re-election of Dr Ariel Guarco provides continuity at the top. Dr Guarco heads the Cooperative Confederation of Argentina and has served on the ICA Board since 2013. The ICA General Assembly first elected him as President in 2017 in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia and re-elected him in 2022 in Seville. The Panama vote gives him a third straight four year term. His leadership has stressed peace, democracy and inclusive participation, which was also the theme of the Panama conference.
Key Takeaways
- Dileep Sanghani, Chairman of IFFCO, was elected as an At-Large Director to the ICA Global Board for 2026 to 2030 on 15 September 2026 in Panama City.
- Dr Ariel Guarco of Argentina was re-elected unopposed as ICA President for 2026 to 2030, marking his third straight term since 2017.
- The ICA Global Board has 30 members, including the President, 15 At-Large Directors, 4 regional Vice Presidents, 8 sectoral representatives and 2 committee Presidents.
- IFFCO stands for Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited, registered on 3 November 1967 with headquarters in New Delhi.
- The International Cooperative Alliance was founded on 19 August 1895 in London and has its global office in Brussels, Belgium.
