Invest more to gain from Budget initiatives, PM Modi exhorts India Inc

New Delhi, March 7

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday urged India Inc to increase investment to take advantage of the opportunities unveiled in the Budget 2023-24.

Addressing a post-Budget webinar on the financial sector, the PM said the government had increased the capital expenditure outlay to a historic high of Rs 10 lakh crore. He said India was being described as a bright spot of the global economy and the country had attracted a record high FDI in 2021-22 financial year.

“Today, I will call upon the private sector to increase their investment just like the government so that the country gets maximum benefit from it,” said the PM, hinting that the onus of capital expenditure was shouldered majorly by the government, the funds for which mainly came from taxes.

PM Modi also exhorted the people to shun the habit of buying goods without taking bill. “People feel they are not being harmed by this, so they often don’t even push for the bill. The more people will get to know that the country is benefited by taking the bill the more they will demand the bill. We only need to spread awareness…. To boost the economy, sometimes small steps can make a big difference,’’ he said. The Prime Minister indicated that by taking bills, the shopkeeper would not be able to swindle tax.

The PM also wanted people to scrupulously pay taxes while contending that the rates were low. “Today the situation in India is completely different. Due to GST and reduction in income tax and corporate tax, the tax rate in India has reduced a lot,’’ he observed. Modi pointed out that as against gross tax revenue of Rs 11 lakh crore in 2013-14, collections in 2023-24 would be over Rs 33 lakh crore. “India is reducing the tax rate but despite that the collection is continuously increasing,’’ he observed while terming the payment of taxes as directly related to nation-building.