G.H. Amin, President, NCUI meets Union Finance Minister for Income Tax Exemption for Cooperatives.A delegation of senior cooperative leaders alongwith the President, NCUI Shri G.H. Amin, called on the Hon’ble Finance Minister Shri Pranab Mukherjee to apprise him about the difficulties being faced by the cooperatives of the country due to withdrawal of the exemption income tax under section 80P(P)(4) on 14th February, 2010. The President, NCUI urged the Hon’ble Minister for an early restoration of the exemption to the cooperatives for payment of income tax by deleting section 80(P)(4) which was introduced in the income tax act in the year 2006. He said that the govt. should review and restore the exemption for the cooperatives. This will give a major incentive to the sector to plug back a substantial portion of their surplus in the form of reserve that would strengthen their capital base to serve the poorer section of the society. He further said that the cooperative movement in India with about 6 lakhs cooperative society widely spread from villages to national level with incredible membership of 230 million with immensely benefit with the withdrawal of income tax to cooperatives. Shri Amin, further said that the avenue of raising capital for the cooperatives are limited as share capital from members can’t be taped beyond a level. The only other way of augmentation of fund by the cooperative is retained earning. In the situation that imposition of tax for cooperatives weakens their efforts to promote the well being of the members and the farming community and other weaker section of the society.
The President, NCUI also demanded the need for strengthening the cooperative education and training support from the Govt. of India to increase the grant-in-aid from Rs. 25 crore per annum to Rs. 50 crores for the year remaining two years of the 11th Five Year Plan i.e. 2010-2011, 2011-12 and also urged the govt. to continue grant-in-aid for the cooperative and training programme in the 12th Plan period so that professionalisation and human resource development in the cooperative sector do not receive any set back. President, NCUI in the meeting with the Hon’ble Finance Minister also said that NCUI has developed a country wide network of 20 Institute of Cooperative Management, 109 Junior Cooperative Training Centre (JCTs) one National Institute namely Vaikunth Mehtra National Institute for the Cooperative Management (VAMNICOM) and an advance National Centre for Cooperative Education (NCCE) for imparting training and education for entire cooperative set-up. Shri Amin, said that the budgetary support from the govt. is declining for the cooperative education and training over the years and it is difficult to provide leadership and professional skills to 6 lakhs cooperative 25 crores members in the country without sufficient financial support.