Decision on reducing market cess on APMC traders on July 9

Co-Operation Minister S T Somashekar said that the decision to reduce the market cess on Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) traders from across the state will be decided in the cabinet meeting to be held on July 9.

At present, market cess of 1.5 % is collected from the traders. The cess is used for the payment of salary of the employees, development work in the APMC yard and also carrying out cleanliness in the APMC yard, he told mediapersons in Mangaluru on Friday.

As per the amendment to APMC Act, any trading outside the purview of any APMC yard will not attract any additional costs as levy or cess. Hence there is a demand to reduce the market cess from the trading community in Karnataka. “We are working on how much cess can be reduced without affecting the functioning of the APMCs. The issue will be placed in the Cabinet meeting for final decision,” added the Minister.

Welcoming the move to bring cooperative banks under RBI, the Minister said that the move will help to put an end to cheating the customers by the cooperative banks. The ordinance is expected to give wider powers to the RBI to audit these lenders and also to supersede their board in case they are under stress. The deposit by the customers in the cooperative banks will be safe, he added.