Economic woes won’t hit BJP votes: CM Fadnavis

Mumbai: Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday said that people will vote for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) because they believe that only Prime Minister Narendra Modi can solve their problems.

Admitting that people are facing many problems, he said, “That it does not mean public will vote against the BJP. They will vote for the BJP, as they believe that only Narendra Modi can solve their problems.”

“The Opposition had campaigned on issues such as job losses, economic slowdown and farm distress during the Lok Sabha elections and it did not work for them, he said, adding that same will happen in the forthcoming Maharashtra elections.

The chief minister also said that Maharashtra, being a major manufacturing hub, will benefit from the Centre’s decision to reduce corporate tax.

“It is the boldest decision taken by the Indian government to encourage investments by corporate houses. Maharashtra being the major manufacturing hub of India will hugely benefit from slashing of corporate tax,” he said.

Queried on whether budgetary provisions were insufficient to tackle economic slowdown, he said decisions such as the corporate tax move had to be taken from time to time.

“There is a global slowdown. The Indian economy is no longer local — it has become global. The budget is not static. One needs to take decisions from time to time to address issues,” he said.

The ongoing trade war between the United States of America (UAE) and China may prove beneficial to India as companies were planning to shift their manufacturing bases here, he added.

Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had on September 20 slashed the tax rate for companies by almost 10 per cent to 25.17 per cent, and offered a lower rate to 17.01 per cent for new manufacturing firms.

Ms Sitharaman had said that India was earlier at a disadvantage because of a couple of factors among which was the high corporate tax rate.

The Union finance minister had said that the reduction has made it attractive for foreign investors, including iPhone maker Apple, to set up units in the country.

“The top consideration on which India was rejected as an investment destination is now better than everybody else... For someone who is coming up with new investment, no country is offering 15 per cent (tax rate). We are giving 15 per cent with no MAT (minimum alternate tax) and simpler taxation structure,” she had said.