Co-op banks oppose Centres Direct Tax Code

BANGALORE: Expressing severe dissatisfaction over the Union government’s move of imposing ‘Direct Tax Code’ on cooperative banks, Karnataka State Cooperative Apex Banks Limited and all its District Central Co-operative Banks observed a one-day ‘hartal’ on Thursday.Explaining the reasons for their hartal, R M Manjunath Gowda, President of Apex Banks, told media persons, “The motive to reject the subsidies given to cooperative banks were revived in 2006 by the Union government. The lawmakers have watered down comprehensive tax deductions available to the cooperative sector through Section 80P of Income Tax Act which has remained unchanged since 1922.”Manjunath Gowda said all their earlier demands and protests were neglected by the Centre and it is all set to impose the taxes from April 1, 2012.There are 31 main Apex Banks in all districts and all those main branches have 1,015 branches. There are 14,196 branches, including all DCC bank branches across the country.“If the direct tax codes are imposed, Rs 12,000 to Rs 15,000 crore can be collected as taxes. Due to the hartal, transaction of Rs 8,000 to Rs 10,000 crore has been stalled, with more than Rs 2 lakh crore being stagnant,” Manjunath Gowda said.“This is a bad move. We have taken up the issue with Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda and he has assured to take up this issue in the ongoing session,” the reprentatives of the cooperative societies said.