CPI(M)  Polit Bureau has issued the following statement on September 20

THIS RSS-BJP government through an ordinance has amended the Income Tax Act giving huge concessions to the corporates and superrich to the tune of a whopping Rs 1.45 lakh crores. This comes over and above the Rs 70,000 crore of concessions to the realty and exports sectors recently.  The misappropriation of the reserves of the Reserve Bank of India to the tune of Rs 1.76 lakh crore is now being transferred to the corporates instead of it being used for increasing public investments that will generate employment and increase people’s purchasing power.

The current economic recession in India is caused by the lack of demand ie, people do not have the purchasing power to buy. These efforts reversing the budget announcements cannot reverse the economic recession as people simply do not have the money to buy what may be produced. With the global economic slowdown and a huge fall in world trade, any hope of increasing our exports will also come to a naught.

The corporate tax, including surcharge and cess, has been reduced from 34.94 to 25.17 per cent. This is a massive concession of about 10 per centage points. Further, companies making fresh investments from October 1, 2019 will have the option of paying taxes of 17.01 per cent inclusive of surcharges.

The budget announcement of an enhanced surcharge on capital gains has now been withdrawn providing a massive benefit to foreign portfolio investors. This comes on the eve of Modi’s visit to the USA and his brazen attempt to woo portfolio investors from the US and the rest of the world.

In a situation of alarmingly rising unemployment, layoffs, retrenchment and fall in real incomes of the working people, none of these measures can help improve people’s livelihood or reviving the economy. What is needed is large doses of public investment to create employment and increase people’s purchasing power. The government is pursuing the exact opposite which is nothing else but loot of Indian money for private corporate benefit and speculative profit.

This corporate-communal nexus is imposing greater miseries on the Indian people. The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) reiterates its demand that the Rs 1.76 lakh crore taken from the RBI reserves be used for public investment to build our much-needed infrastructure.