Intro: PM has ended the injustice done to the cooperative sector for decades: Amit Shah
The ministry of cooperation has got a budgetary support of Rs 9 billion, which includes allocation of Rs 3.5 billion for digitisation of PACS. The ministry has proposed to convert VAMNICOM (Vaikunth Mehta National Institute of Cooperative Management), Pune, into an independent institution. The Union Budget 2022-23 has made a provision of Rs 2.74 billion for the umbrella scheme to develop cooperatives by providing them with necessary support in terms of technology, finance and infrastructure to transform them into successful entities.
To provide a level playing field between co-operative societies and companies, Nirmala Sitharaman, Union Minister of Finance, has proposed to reduce Alternate Minimum Tax rate for the cooperative societies to 15%.
The FM has also proposed to reduce the surcharge on co-operative societies from present 12% to 7% for those having total income of more than Rs 10 million and up to Rs 100 million. This would help in enhancing the income of cooperative societies and its members who are mostly from rural and farming communities.
Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah has described the Union Budget as foresighted and stated that it will be a game changer for India’s economy. Among other things, Shah stated in a specific reference to the cooperative sector that PM Narendra Modi has reduced the AMT (alternate minimum tax) rate in the cooperative sector from 18.5% to 15% and the surcharge from 12% to 7%, putting an end to the decades-long injustice done to the cooperative sector and bringing it on par with the rest of the sectors. This will help to accomplish Modi’s goal of ‘Sahkar Se Samriddhi,’ according to Shah.
