Date:11/04/2006 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2006/04/11/stories/2006041101131900.htm

Back Co-op meet in November at New Delhi

Our Bureau

Mangalore , April 10

Sahakara Bharathi, a forum of co-operative organisations, will organise a national-level convention of co-operatives at New Delhi on November 11 and 12.

Addressing presspersons here on Monday, Mr K. Padmanabha, National General Secretary of Sahakara Bharathi, said more than 5,000 members from the co-operative sector would participate in the convention. The President, Mr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, will inaugurate the convention. On the Union Government's decision not to include non-agricultural credit co-operative societies under income-tax net, he said Sahakara Bharathi had taken a delegation to various Central ministers in this regard.

Though the Union Finance Minister had proposed to bring co-operative institutions — barring primary agricultural credit societies, and primary co-operative agricultural and rural development banks — into the income-tax net in the Budget proposals for 2006-07, the Government did not include the proposal in the final Budget. This will help around two crore members in 47,479 non-agricultural credit co-operative societies.