2023 Union Budget of India: NCUI President sees surge in co-op fund

NEW DELHI – Cooperative leaders of the land are expecting a bonanza from the upcoming 2023 Union Budget of India to be presented in the Parliament on Wednesday by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

According to the Indian Cooperative , National Cooperative Union of India [NCUI] President Dileep Sanghani is optimistic this time the co-op share in the budget is going to be pretty high.

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 specialises 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 and 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 [UCBs] 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He has raised many issues including Restoration of Deduction u/s 80P [2] to UCBs that was withdrawn in 2006-07 by introduction of Sec80 [P] [4] and Sec.80 [c] [xxi] of the Income Tax Act 1961 – Inclusion of deposits with non-scheduled cooperative banks for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.

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].

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