Perhaps being the first to be consulted for the pre-budget preparations by the Union Finance Ministry, Sahakar Bharati leaders put forth several important co-op issues and requested the Minister Mrs. Nirmala Sitharaman to intervene for the sake of the movement.
“We raised about a dozen issues concerning eleven sectors of co-operatives. Four of the issues raised by us are common to all the sectors while rest are sector-specific”, said Satish Marathe, one of the founder members of Sahakar Bharati on the phone to this correspondent.
“The meeting that lasted over 2 hours was fruitful. The meeting was scheduled physically in Delhi but due to Covid-19, this was organized on a virtual platform. The FM heard us out very patiently despite her tight schedule and assured us to resolve the issues sooner than later”, said Marathe.
Since Sahakar Bharati’s National General Secretary is down with Covid, those who interacted with the Finance minister on virtual mode included Satish Marathe, Jyotindra Mehta, D N Thakur, and Sanjay Pachpore.
The sectors touched by Sahakar Bharati included urban co-op banks, credit co-ops, rural credit delivery systems, dairy co-ops, agro-processing co-ops, fisheries co-ops, consumer co-ops, and others.
The Sahakar Bharati team also raised the issue of taxation on co-ops, issue of raising funds by co-ops, issue of co-op training, and norms of ease of doing business in co-ops, among others.
On UCBs it argued that licenses for opening new UCBs have not been issued for more than two decades. Also, considering the continental size of the country, the present number of UCBs is small as several states and districts do not have even a single UCB.
Regarding the Rural Credit Delivery System, it wanted PACs to be encouraged to tap local resources and restrict their dependence on DCCBs and SCBs.
On Dairy cooperatives, the team felt as against the potential of 3.5 lakhs Primary Milk Societies, presently, only about 1.40 lacs societies are functional and thus NDDB should be financially supported and advised to prepare a new 10-year Development Plan for the Dairy Sector.
Referring to Agro-Processing Co-operative Societies, Sahakar Bharati argued that while 75-80% of Agricultural produce is processed in developed countries, in India, it is woefully low at around 20% and there is a need to provide Mudra Loans and encourage educated and rural Youth to promote small and micro Agro-Processing Units.
On taxation of co-ops, Sahakar Bharat quotes the WOCCU report showing little or no taxation on co-ops in other countries and says there is a need to revisit and restore the pre-2006 position relating to taxation policy towards Co-ops.
It also asks the govt to encourage large Credit Co-ops to voluntarily convert themselves into UCBs, provided they comply with Entry Point and Viability Norms.
It also lays stress on training and says Income Tax should not be levied on Co-op Societies engaged in Training and Capacity building activities.
On the issue of raising of capital by co-ops, it asks enacting of new legislation and amending existing acts and rules need to be undertaken to empower Co-ops to raise capital by issue of Bonds and Equity. It also demands the inclusion of Co-ops in Payment Gateway through NPCI.
Last but not the least, Sahakar Bharati demanded operationalizing Ease of Doing Business Norms to Co-ops to improve efficiency and optimize operational cost.
Click the link to read the issues raised by Sahakar Bharati