Let’s talk about freebies to big corporates: Congress

Prime Minister Narendra Modi

The "government's rich friends" are getting ‘gajak' through tax reliefs, write-offs and exemptions worth crores while the poor are getting only small assistance as ‘revris', the Congress alleged on Friday targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "When will there be a discussion on bank loan waivers to big corporates and the decrease in corporate taxes?," asked Congress spokesperson Gaurav Vallabh.

Of the Rs 9.92 lakh crore loan written off by banks in the past five years, Rs 7.27 lakh crore is the share of public sector banks, he told reporters. The government, he added, has admitted in Parliament that only Rs 1.03 lakh crore was recovered of the amount written off by it. Assuming that the recovery from the written-off loan will increase to 20 percent in the coming time, public sector banks have not recovered the loan of Rs 5.8 lakh crore, Vallabh said.

"When will there be a discussion on freebies given by the public sector banks of Rs 5.8 lakh crore in the past five years?" Posing a series of questions, he also wondered when will there be a discussion on the loss of Rs 1.45 lakh crore per year to the government due to the reduction in corporate tax rates. "Why are small amounts or assistance given to the poor and oppressed classes to tide in tough times freebies (rewri), while the freebies that the rich friends get all the time through low tax rates, write offs and exemptions are ‘necessary incentives' (gajak)?"

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