Dr Mukund Abhyankar , President of the apex national body of urban cooperative banks and credit societies NAFCUB is busy these days giving finishing touches to the proposed mega conference of UCBs in Delhi in June.
He has already met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and invited him to inaugurate the show. Meanwhile, he has also received confirmation from RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan that he will participate in the conference.
”One may see Deputy governors of RBI attending seminars but to have the Governor is a real morale booster,” said a proud Abhyankar. “It was very kind of him to accept our invitation with the promise of participation. It means urban cooperative banks are considered important in the government financial planning”, he added.
The proposed conference would take place in the Sri Fort Auditorium on 6-7 June but the dates may vary slightly if 
PM intends any change given his pressing engagements. Modi had reportedly asked Nafcub Chief to have Mr Arun Jaitley as a standby should he (PM himself) fail to make it.
”I have already talked to Mr Jaitley who was kind enough to accept our invite, said Abhyankar. Radha Mohan Singh, the Union Agriculture Minister has already consented to participate,” he said.
The UCB conference assumes greater significance in the light of new budgetary compulsions in which IT department is asking cooperative banks to deduct TDS from account holders who receive interest on 10,000 and also deduct TDS from the shareholders of the bank, whom the bank offers interest on their share capital value.
Besides the issue of Income tax on cooperatives, this new development has made cooperators run from pillar to post pleading for its removal. Earlier Dr Abhyankar met Chairperson of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), Anita Kapoor in New Delhi . Soon he was followed by Satish Marathe and team meeting Arun Jaitley on the issue.
The presence of Prime Minister and Finance Minister in the conference would bring worries of Urban cooperative banking sector into the focus of the government and this explains why Abhyankar is pinning his hopes on the meet.
