PM Modi exhorts India Inc to make most of budget, ramp up investments

Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged the private sector on Wednesday to take advantage of the announcements in the budget and to increase its capital investments in sync with the Centre’s own boost to capex.

“I would call upon the private sector to increase its investment, just like the government, so that the country benefits,” he said while dwelling on the key Budget proposals at a webinar.

He pointed out that the Centre has increased the capex outlay for FY24 by 33 per cent to Rs 10 trillion. The package is aimed at roping private investment into the economic landscape.

The PM noted that there was a time when the world looked at India with suspicion and said that discussions on the country’s economy, budget and goals would often begin and end with a question.

“With India now being guided by financial discipline, transparency and inclusive approach, the question mark at the beginning and end of the discussion has been replaced by ‘Vishwas’ (trust) and ‘Apeksha’ (expectations),” he said at the tenth webinar in a 12-part series seeking ideas and suggestions for implementing the Budget.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her Budget speech had said that the Central government is expected to achieve its fiscal deficit target of 6.4 per cent in FY23, and is targeting a deficit of 5.9 per cent for FY24.

The PM said India is moving with new capabilities, so the responsibility of those in the financial world has increased, as they have a robust financial system and a banking system that has returned to profit.

Modi stressed that applications are continuously pouring in to make use of the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme, which has made India an important part of the global supply chain.

“The need of the hour is to ensure the benefits of India’s strong banking system reach the maximum number of people and it is very important that our banks reach out to MSMEs and provide them adequate finance,” he added.

The PM also called upon stakeholders in the financial sector to re-engineer all processes to reduce costs and speed up credit for small entrepreneurs, so as to drive financial inclusion in the country.

Modi said the introduction of GST and reduction in income tax and corporate tax have reduced taxpayer’s burden.

These measures, he said, have improved tax collection and added that the gross tax revenue, which was about Rs 11 trillion in FY14, can rise by as much as 200 per cent to hit Rs 33 trillion in 2023-24.

The number of individual tax returns filed rose from 35 million to 65 million from 2013-14 to 2020-21, Modi said.

“Payment of tax is directly linked to nation building. The increase in the tax base is proof that people trust the government, and believe that the taxes they pay are being spent for the larger public good,” the PM said.

Modi asked industry bodies to assume the task of promoting local artisans and entrepreneurs at the district level.

The Prime Minister said ‘Vocal for Local’ is a national responsibility and India has to explore areas in which it can save money by building domestic capacity. He said higher education and edible oil are two areas where a lot of money goes out.

The PM said that for the first time, more than four million street vendors and small shopkeepers received help from banks through the PM Swanidhi Yojana.

He added: “RuPay and Unified Payments Interface (UPI) aren’t just low-cost, highly secure technology, but are our identity in the world. UPI should become a means of financial inclusion and empowerment for the whole world–we have to collectively work towards it. I feel our financial institutions should maximise partnership with fintechs to increase their reach.”

“In the era of ‘Industry 4.0’, platforms developed by India are becoming models for the world,” he said, giving examples of Government e-Marketplace (GeM) and digital transactions.

Modi said that in the 75th year of independence, 750 billion transactions had been done digitally, which shows the extent to which UPI has expanded.

UPI, India’s flagship digital payments platform, has the bandwidth to process one billion transactions a day, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das had said on Monday.