PM Modi does not condone culture of criticising corporates

Standing up for India Inc, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said he does not believe in the culture of criticising industry and corporates who he believes are doing exemplary social work alongside their business.

Modi also wanted citizens to not just pay their taxes honestly but do their bit for social transformation.

“In our country, the general image is to abuse businessmen, industrialists. I don’t know why it is so but it has become a fashion. This is not a line of thought I agree with,” Modi said, addressing IT professionals and tech honchos in a townhall where he urged technology companies to contribute their expertise and manpower to bring social change.
“We have seen today, in this townhall programme, how leading IT corporates are doing excellent social work, urging their employees to contribute to the society,” he added.

This is the second time that Modi has stood up for corporate India. In July, Modi had stated that he was not scared to be seen with industrialists as his conscience was clear and that they too had contributed to the development of the country.

Modi said under his government, more people are paying taxes because they have faith that their money is being used properly, but advocated a ‘tax-plus one’ system where citizens do a little more towards society besides honestly paying taxes.

At the event, IT companies like Tata Consultancy Services, Cognizant, Tech Mahindra and Mindtree showcased the social transformation efforts being undertaken by them and their employees and pledged their support to the newly launched initiative ‘self4society’.

The new portal ‘self4society.mygov.in‘ — named as ‘Main Nahi Hum’ — will act as a platform for companies to contribute their technology, skills and HR resources towards various social causes, including financial literacy, financial inclusion, small business enablement, and Swachh Bharat.

As many as 85 IT companies which employ 2 million people have already registered themselves on the platform. Modi further said volunteering efforts by the tech companies could bring about transformation in various sectors, including agriculture.

The townhall was attended by corporate bigwigs and industry leaders like Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra, Nasscom President Debjani Ghosh, NIIT Technologies Vice Chairman and Managing Director Arvind Thakur and Indian Cellular Association National President, Pankaj Mohindroo.