Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said that citizens need to adopt a “tax plus one” approach and do more for the society besides just honestly paying taxes. Speaking at a town hall meeting in New Delhi, he said more people were now paying taxes as they have faith that their money is being utilised well, the Hindustan Times reported.

“Paying tax is prakriti [natural], not paying tax is vikriti [deformity],” he said at the town hall meeting, which was attended by leading technology companies. “But paying tax plus doing more is sanskriti [culture]. I appreciate honest taxpayers whose numbers have increased. But the tax that is paid is part of the system. Social service is tax plus something. We need to create that.”

The prime minister praised the companies for “exemplary social work alongside their business” and said he does not believe in the culture of criticising them, PTI reported. “In our country, the general image is to abuse businessmen, industrialists,” Modi added. “I do not know why it is so but it has become a fashion. This is not a line of thought I agree with. We have seen today, in this town hall programme, how leading IT companies are doing excellent social work, urging their employees to contribute to the society.”

The prime minister has defended corporate India earlier too. In July, he said he was not scared to be seen with industrialists as his conscience was clear and that they too had contributed to the development of the country. Congress President Rahul Gandhi has repeatedly accused Modi of helping rich industrialists close to him.

Modi said technology should be used to develop solutions for India’s problems. The prime minister added that moving to electric vehicles was an answer to the volatility in international oil prices and asked social entrepreneurs to develop a low-cost model that runs on an affordable and easily chargeable battery.

At the event, companies such as Tata Consultancy Services, Cognizant, Tech Mahindra and Mindtree showcased the social work undertaken by their employees and pledged their support to a new initiative called “self4society”. The “self4society.mygov.in” portal – named “Main Nahi Hum” [Not I, but Us] – will be a platform for companies to contribute their technology, skills and human resources to various social causes, including financial literacy, financial inclusion, and cleanliness.