In his special address at the ET Global Business Summit, Samir Jain, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Times Group, shared a unique perspective on
India’s transformation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. India’s transformation owes much to the PM’s resoluteness and his selfless dedication to people’s welfare, Jain said.
Jain introduced a new way of thinking about India’s economic power and proposed an
innovative tax policy change to empower India’s women, requesting the PM to consider these ideas. Pointing out that India is well on its way to becoming a $5 trillion economy by 2025, as the PM had resolved, Jain said we should include the income of millions of Indian expatriates and Indian origin people abroad – numbering around 3 crore – when thinking of India’s economic heft.
By that measure, Jain said, the size of India’s economy has already crossed $5 trillion – because if we think of Indians everywhere, whether here or abroad, they are already part of a $5 trillion-plus economic powerhouse. He asked business leaders and policymakers to think of ways to leverage the diaspora’s dynamism for India.
Jain asked the PM to consider a tax change that will lower taxes for women by one percentage point and increase them for men by a similar amount. Drawing applause and roaring laughter in unison from the audience when he said this, he wondered how male business leaders, many present in the audience, will take to this.
The logic of this, Jain said, is that the tax differential will work as incentives for greater women’s participation in the economy and more transfer of wealth to women – and therefore as tools of empowerment. In his speech later, Modi said in a lighter vein that one can’t be sure what the elite would do if such a tax scheme were actually introduced.
Jain also said India’s ancient wisdom is a practical guide to smart and responsible business practices. A business is not just about accumulating wealth, he told assembled business leaders, because wealth in Indian thought has a much broader and deeper meaning. Jain explained the concept of Ashta Lakshmi (eight meanings of Lakshmi).
Adi Lakshmi, for example, should be read in the modern context as signifying the importance of innovation and creativity, he said. We are now in Amrit Kaal, Jain said in conclusion, and deliberations in this business summit will lead to new ways of working towards a strong and prosperous India.
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