Put social responsibility before tax concessions: Chidambaram Mar 8, 2007 Take care of those who have no access to basic amenities, industry urged
No response from industry on jobs for disabled Corporate honchos have not come forward to upgrade ITIs NEW DELHI: Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Thursday chided captains of industry for doing precious little by way of social responsibility while seeking relief and tax concessions for themselves. Putting the ball in the court of India Inc. during his post-budget interaction with members of the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India here, he said: "When we are promising 1,00,000 jobs to the physically challenged... it's a challenge not only for the Government but also for you. I did not hear any one of you speak about how you will provide jobs to physically challenged persons." While presenting the budget, Mr Chidambaram promised corporates that the Government would reimburse the employers' contribution to the EPF (Employees Provident Fund) and the ESI (Employees State Insurance) for the first three years if they provided jobs to the physically handicapped. The Minister rapped the corporate honchos for not coming forward to upgrade industrial training institutes (ITIs) despite the budgetary promise of interest-free loans for their modernisation. "When I offer 1,396 ITIs [for upgrading] and I promised Rs 2.50 crore [as interest-free loan] per ITI, I did not hear any one of you say this is [a] challenge for industry and we will come forward and take over it." Mr. Chidambaram asked the corporate sector to appoint CEOs and CFOs to take better care of its social responsibility to the vulnerable sections, and to avoid seeking fiscal concessions to help achieve inclusive growth. India Inc. needed to take care of that half of India which had no access to water, community toilets, sanitation, electricity, education and health, instead of insisting on repeated tax concessions. On inflation, he said it was a larger social issue and price rise would be moderated in the long run through increased supply of farm goods. "While fiscal steps will have some immediate impact, monetary side will take some time to transmit into the system. Supply-side is indeed a durable answer to inflation. More wheat, more rice, more sugar, more pulses, more oilseeds is [the] durable side." Just as increased supply of inputs was the durable answer to the growth of industry, higher supplies of these were the durable answer to agriculture. Explaining the rationale behind the shift in the budget focus to the farm sector during 2007-08, he said that just as in his "dream" budget of 1997-98 it was necessary to pull India Inc. out of its cocoon, now the stress on the rural sector was essential for "inclusive" growth. Issues such as fringe benefit tax, service tax, double taxation on cement and dividend distribution tax could be addressed through a composite dialogue between his Ministry officials and industry representatives. But the challenge before the Government and the corporates was to make rural India share the gains of current growth, which for the next couple of years would be nine per cent or more. Regards, Vishal Jain Ph : 080-41140564 Website : http://vishal.hello.googlepages.com To unsubscribe send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
