Express News Service By

BENGALURU: Former Union commerce minister and BJP leader Subramanian Swamy has said income tax must be abolished to improve the growth rate in India.

He was speaking on ‘Challenges in Rebooting the Indian Economy’ at an event organised by the Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI) on Sunday.

“Income tax, in one stroke, must be abolished. I have been arguing about this with the prime minister, but he is not getting support from others. Who they are, I can guess,” he said. “When the PM asked me where the revenue will come from, I told him the income derived from I-T in the country is around `2 lakh crore whereas one allocation of a 3G spectrum can bring in that much money. The black money stashed away in secret accounts abroad is around `120 lakh crore, 60 times the income derived from I-T. The people of the country will heave a sigh of relief if the I-T system is abolished,” Swamy said.

The middle class, which encompasses a large sector, should be sought out for its opinions about the government, which will prove beneficial, he said.

Swamy said that in 2003-04, India’s growth rate stood at around 8.4 per cent, which currently has been “reversed”.

“In 2013-14, the growth rate of the country was 4.8 per cent. The ‘India Story’ has evaporated,” he said.

“The industrial revolution, as well as the schemes introduced by the British, pushed us back. Though we have progressed tremendously in areas such as nuclear energy and space projects, to put our economy back on track, we also have to link our rivers and create a centralised grid. We have to ensure that India becomes a hub of manufacturing goods,” Swamy said.

On the issue of black money, he said, “The main problem lies in the fact that banks do not provide information about their account holders. However, there are many ways through which black money can be brought back. There is a ruling by the United Nations that a country, some of whose citizens possess secret bank accounts in other countries, can issue a mandate stating that the money held by its nationals can be nationalised. This option will be explored.”

Stating that there are 21 top lawyers in the country whose names figure on the list of those possessing secret bank accounts, Swamy said it was these people who had been raising their voices against the implementation of the UN directive.

If Indian agriculture is globalised and youth are educated, India can transform from a developing to a developed country. “In India, the average age is 26 years, which makes it a nation predominantly of youth. Considering that agriculture has been a mainstay of the economy and the fact that we can grow up to three crops a year, agriculture should be given prominence. We should be able to export our agricultural produce on a large scale due to the low costs involved. The per-acre production of crops in the country is also poor and in need of immediate attention. It will help in the creation of several jobs too,” he said.

Foreign direct investment in India is not a solution considering that the rate of savings in the country stands at 35 per cent, he said. Efforts will be made to ensure that these savings are utilised efficiently and judiciously. “This will help increase the growth rate of the country to 10 per cent. Maintaining a constant 10 per cent for a period of 10 years will make India a developed country,” he said.

FKCCI president S Sampathraman, vice-president Tallam Dwarkanath and others were present.