Union Finance Minister Smt Nirmala Sitaraman called Sahakar Bharati leader Satish Marathe seeking his input on the economic issues including his take on inflation and rising cases of Covid 19. Talking to Indian Cooperative, Marathe shared the excerpts of his conversation with the Minister.
“I told the Honourable Minister that business men, self-employed people and daily wage earners are not in favour of Lockdowns as their life get completely disrupted in the wake of a Lockdown”, Marathe was emphatic.
Luckily for us, the government also seems to think on the same lines, said Marathe. “Responding to the issue the Minister stated GOI does not support Lockdowns and as a Country we have to learn and face the Corona Pandemic. The government emphasis is on management of Micro Containment Zones”, Marathe said quoting the Minister.
Sitharaman attempted to calm the nerves of business leaders and briefed them about the steps the government is taking to tackle the raging pandemic, said Marathe.
Marathe said to the Minister that inflation is a cause of concern and the government should list reasons and steps taken to tame inflation. The Minister appeared sensitive to the issue, said Marathe.
Marathe also used the occasion to discuss a few pressing co-op issues with the Finance minister. One of them was the constitution of the Expert Committee on UCBs by the RBI. It has already been constituted and we hope licensing of new UCBs will start after the receipt of the Report, said Marathe to the Minister.
Another big issue dangling before the co-op sector is that of DCCBs merger and Marathe put forth the co-op sector’s concern before the Minister. “Merger of DCCBs into State Co-op Banks is not desirable as these can play an important role in the growth of rural & agri Sectors. GOI may please constitute a Committee to formulate Policy for Rural Coop Financial Institutions”, stressed Marathe to the Minister.
She also said that she would look into our requests regarding DCCBs. “At the end of our telcon spread over about 10/12 mts, I thanked her on behalf of Sahakar Bharati, for having called and sought feedback”, said Marathe to this correspondent.
Media reports say the Minister reached out to over 25 CEOs/industrialists including Uday Kotak, MD, Kotak Mahindra Bank and CII President; A M Naik, Group Chairman L&T; Pawan Munjal, MD, Hero MotoCorp; R C Bhargava, Chairman Maruti Suzuki; Venu Srinivasan, CMD, TVS Motor Company; Rajesh Gopinathan, CEO, Tata Consultancy Services, among others.
Marathe, perhaps was the lone co-operator from the sector who got a call from the Finance Minister.