Bannari urges Govt to provide tax exemption

Mysore, Sep 13 (UNI) Bannari Amman Sugars Limited today urged the Karnataka Government to provide an exemption from purchase tax in order to fullfil more procurement price to sugarcane growers.

Talking to newspersons here, Company vice-chairman Venkatesh Reddy said, the Government would pay Rs 160 per ton as an additional price. The management made the payment of Rs 100 per ton last month and the industry has agreed to pay the balance of Rs 60 per ton, provided the Government agrees to compensate through exemption of purchase tax, he added.

Mr Reddy said the company has paid Rs 1100 per ton, despite reduction of sugar prices in the market.

He said during 2007-08, on account of an increase in the sugar production and huge carry over stocks, the sugar prices fell and remained lower than Rs 1200 per quintal. The Centre had fixed levy price at Rs 1290.68 per quintal and based on the Sugarcane Minimum Price(SMP) 90 per cent of the production was to be sold in the open market and the price remained below the levy price, he added.

He said the Government has an approved formula for sharing excess realisation from the sale of free market sugar according to which, it notifies the additional price payable by each factory in excess of the SMP. However, during 2007, the free market price remained much lower then the leavy price for long, he added. He said under the circumstances, and as per the advice of the Government, the factories paid SMP during 2007-08 season.

The Vice Chairman said Karnataka occupied third position in the country in sugar production, after Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh. Last year, Karnataka produced 30 lakh tonnes of sugar, which was 30 per cent of the total country's production of 300 million tonnes, he added.

He said the company would start production of Ethonol to facilitate the process for sugarcane growers.

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