Presenting the first ever digital Union Budget, Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman said that given the role being played by cooperatives in the economy of the country, the time has come for setting up a separate Administrative Structure for them.
Some of the key highlights of the Union Budget 2021-22 for co-ops and agri sector are
- Finance Minister reiterated the government’s commitment to the development of Multi-State Cooperatives and assured to provide all support to them.
- To further streamline the ‘Ease of Doing Business’ for Cooperatives, the Budget proposed to set up a separate Administrative Structure for cooperatives.
- In order to facilitate the transition of UCBs to SFBs, the union Budget proposed to provide tax neutrality for the transition of UCBs to SFBs. Hence, the UCB shall not be required to pay capital gains for the assets transferred to the SFBs.
- The Budget has put thrust on monetizing assets and has decided to launch the National Monetization Pipeline. It proposes to monetize warehousing assets of Nafed, among others.
- Agricultural credit target enhanced to Rs. 16.5 lakh crore in FY22 – animal husbandry, dairy, and fisheries to be the focus areas
- Rural Infrastructure Development Fund to be enhanced to Rs. 40,000 crore from Rs. 30,000 crore
- Around 1.68 crore farmers registered and Rs. 1.14 lakh crore of trade value carried out through e-NAMs; 1,000 more mandis to be integrated with e-NAM to bring transparency and competitiveness.
- APMCs to get access to the Agriculture Infrastructure Funds for augmenting infrastructure facilities
- Amendments to the DICGC Act, 1961, to help depositors get an easy and time-bound access to their deposits to the extent of the deposit insurance cover.
- Huge investments to develop modern fishing harbours and fish landing centres – both marine and inland
In her speech, the Finance Minister listed 6 pillars of the Union Budget 2021-22: Health and Wellbeing Physical & Financial Capital, and Infrastructure, Inclusive Development for Aspirational India Reinvigorating Human Capital, Innovation and R&D and Minimum Government and Maximum Governance.
