Cong blames 'myopic' policies for India Inc's refusal to invest, hike wages

The Congress on Wednesday blamed the Central government for corporate India's "failure" to generate employment and investment, claiming its refusal to invest or increase wages is a direct consequence of the Centre's "myopic" policy making.

Citing a report, Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh claimed that corporate India is choking the middle class and hurting the India growth story by failing to increase wages despite higher profits and paying lower taxes after GST and tax sops in 2019.

"In all fairness to India Inc, these failures are squarely the responsibility of the Union government," Ramesh said.

"Here is the government's track record -- indiscriminate corporate tax cuts without linking them to employment creation or investment. Introducing a punitive GST regime, with input tax credits only for corporates. Overseeing and enabling the growing oligopolisation of the market. Introducing a CBI/ED/IT Raid Raj to extort donations from the corporate sector to the BJP," the Congress leader alleged.

Ramesh also claimed government's failure to stimulate consumption demand by hiking MSP and MGNREGA wages, refusal to provide income support despite mounting evidence of wage stagnation and growing indebtedness among the poor and middle classes, and unwillingness to accept the seriousness of the mass unemployment crisis.

"Without adequate consumption, there is no incentive to invest -- especially amid a political economy that is increasingly cronyist and corrupt. And with such massive unemployment, there is no reason to increase wages.

"India Inc's refusal to invest or increase wages is a direct consequence of the Union government's myopic policy making," the Congress leader claimed.

The opposition party has been frequently blaming the government for the state of the economy, where the country is faced with unemployment and slow growth.