Congress Manifesto 2024: Party Promises Nav Sankalp Economic Policy And Employment Linked Incentive Schemes

Congress Manifesto 2024: The party resolves to ensure India becomes a manufacturing hub and the sector’s share in the GDP grows from 14 per cent to 20 per cent in the next five years

The party says that it will launch a new employment-linked incentive (ELI) scheme for corporates to score tax credits for additional hiring against regular, quality jobs

Source : PTI

Congress Manifesto 2024: Sharing its economic policy in its Election Manifesto, the Congress party said that India needs to transition from a consumer economy to a producer economy. The party called for a rethinking of the economic policy for the country, titled, 'Nav Sankalp Economic Policy'. Basing the new policy on jobs, the party said that India needs to emerge as the biggest producer on the global level to help create jobs. 

“India must become a manufacturing powerhouse that produces goods and services for itself and the world. To this end, beyond economic and business factors, the most vital ingredient is social harmony that will attract investments and a skilled labour force,” the manifesto stated. 

Taking a jibe at the BJP government, the party says that the share of manufacturing in the GDP was higher during the Congress rule, while in the last decade, this share has remained stagnant at 14 per cent. In order to transform the industry in India, Congress shares suggestions and commitments in its manifesto.

• The party resolves to ensure India becomes a manufacturing hub and the manufacturing sector’s share in the GDP grows from 14 per cent to 20 per cent in the next five years. 
• The manifesto also mentions reforming the production-linked incentives (PLI) scheme to aim for specific sectors that can help generate employment for thousands of people and make the country among the top 5 producers globally in the sector. In this regard, the party says that it will launch a new employment-linked incentive (ELI) scheme for corporates to score tax credits for additional hiring against regular, quality jobs.
• The party states that the independent regulatory regime for businesses in the country has deteriorated into ‘a system of overt and covert controls’. With a pledge to resolve the same, it says that it will conduct a detailed review of the current norms and regulations and repeal or amend the same to help restore freedom to industry, business, and trade.

• The party pledges to work towards making India a leader in several industries like steel, metals, garments and textiles, electronic goods, cement, pharmaceuticals, engineering goods, automobiles, petroleum products, chemicals, and mining rare earths and critical minerals.
• Addressing the delay in the central government projects, the party says about 60 per cent of the large projects face delays or have been stalled, as per the RBI data. The cost for the same has increased by about Rs 5 lakh crore, it noted. Congress promises to address these issues and find ways to revive the stalled projects with support from the private sector.
• The party also pledges to prioritise intellectual property rights and registration, acquisition, protection, and use of IPR in small, medium and large enterprises.
• Congress notes that it will work to strengthen the Competition Commission of India to ensure that India remains an open and competitive economy. Further, the party promises to simplify the corporate tax structure and keep a tab on the investigative agencies to prevent them from misusing their powers against corporates.
• Further, the party says that they will work to generate job opportunities in sectors using conventional technology and also provide a boost to the usage of Artificial Intelligence, robotics, etc in creating new and frontline jobs.