Cooperative leaders of the land are expecting a bonanza from the upcoming budget to be presented in the Parliament tomorrow on Wednesday by Union Finance Minister Ms Nirmala Sitharaman.
Talking to the Indian cooperative from Gandhidham on the phone, NCUI President Dileep Sanghani said that he had an inkling that this time the co-op share in the budget is going to be pretty high. Without naming his source in the government, Sanghani said the co-operative is going to get its due focus in the budget.
Explaining further Sanghani added that the duo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah is convinced that co-op is one of the best tools to uplift the poor and reach out to the last man.
Sanghani also said that co-operative training and education are going to get special focus in the budget, a field in which NCUI specializes through its network, he added.
Talking to the Indian Cooperative, Satish Marathe, one of the Founder Members of Sahakar Bharati said that providing Deposit Insurance Cover to all Co-ops engaged in providing Thrift & Credit Services should be included in this budget. He said that thousands of credit co-ops are active across states helping the needy and it is the time they should get insurance cover.
Marathe, who is a passionate advocate of the role of co-ops in food processing, also expects this budget to focus on Empowering Rural Co-ops to promote agro and food processing. Our rural co-ops would come of age only when they are into agro processing, Marathe added.
Other expectations of Marathe from the Budget include the internet in each village.
Earlier, on behalf of Urban Cooperative Banks and Credit Societies- Nafcub President Jyotindra Mehta wrote a letter to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman apprising her of the expectations of the co-op sector from the budget.
In his letter, Mehta has touched on almost all the issues plaguing different sectors including UCBs, Credit Co-op, Income Tax and many others. The Nafcub President demanded an exclusive section for UCBs in the Ministry of Finance.
He has raised many issues including Restoration of Deduction u/s 80P(2) to UCBs that was withdrawn in 2006-07 by introduction of Sec80(P)(4) and Sec.80(c)(xxi) of the Income Tax Act 1961 – Inclusion of deposits with non- scheduled cooperative banks for eligibility.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Union Budget 2023 on 1 February (Wednesday) at 11 am. This will be Sitharaman’s fifth straight budget for the fiscal year beginning April 1. This will again be in a paperless form.
Some of the challenges before the budget include tackling the impact of the global slowdown, falling exports and increase in the current account deficit (CAD).