On Sunday, the Congress party criticized the Modi government’s policies, claiming they have scared investors away from India and made it harder to do business. Before the upcoming Union Budget, Congress believes the government should end what they call “raid raj” and “tax terrorism.”
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh pointed out that the Modi government has said it wants to improve how easy it is to do business in India. However, in the last ten years, private investments have dropped significantly, and many businesspeople are leaving India for other countries.
Ramesh described the current tax system, including goods and services tax (GST) and income tax, as complicated and strict, calling it “Tax Terrorism.” He explained that since 2014, private domestic investment has declined, and in the past decade, over 1.75 million Indians have moved abroad. He also mentioned that around 21,300 wealthy individuals left India between 2022 and 2025.
There are three main reasons for these issues:
1. Complicated GST: Ramesh said the GST has too many tax rates, which confuses businesses and leads to big tax losses.
2. Growing Imports from China: He claimed that India has a huge trade deficit with China, hurting local manufacturing, especially in jobs that require a lot of workers.
3. Low Wages and Spending: Ramesh pointed out that workers’ real wages have dropped under the Modi government, meaning people have less money to spend. This has hurt consumption growth even though personal debt is easy to get.
To solve these problems, Congress stressed that the Union Budget should make changes to help protect jobs in Indian manufacturing and improve wages. Ramesh stated that these changes are essential to boost investor confidence and encourage businesses to invest again.
In his post on X, Ramesh highlighted that the Union Budget for 2025/26 will be presented soon, urging the government to act quickly to fix the situation. He noted, “Nothing less will do.
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