As PM Modi announces the extension of the nationwide lockdown till May 3, India Inc. asked the government to announce a stimulus package soon to keep the economy afloat amid the coronavirus pandemic.
IT industry body Nasscom on Tuesday said it is hopeful that the government will announce economic stimulus packages soon to help rebuild the economy even as the nationwide lockdown was extended till May 3 to contain the spread of coronavirus infection.
Welcoming the move to extend the lockdown, Nasscom said it is imperative that people to adapt to this "new normal" and build in practices like social distancing in everyday lives over the next many months.
"The nationwide three-week lockdown (that was to end on April 14) has played a key role in helping India contain the spread of Covid-19.
Deepak Shenoy, Founder of Capitalmind said on Twitter, "I hope we get some details of a stimulus package tomorrow. Telling industry not to lay off is fine in speeches, but the government has to pay for it."
“While there is a cost associated with the lockdown, one has to place it against the value of lives of our people and which are non-negotiable. FICCI is encouraged by the Prime Minister’s decision that while our priority will continue to be on saving lives, we will continue to take measures to preserve the livelihoods and bring the economy back on track. Estimates show that India may be losing close to 40,000 crore daily due to the national lockdown with an estimated loss amounting to Rs 7-8 lakh crore during the past 21 days. It is also expected that close to 40 million jobs are at risk during the period April-Sept 2020. Hence an urgent relief package is also critical," Dr Sangita Reddy, President, FICCI, said.
The Prime Minister’s directions on graded opening will help start some production activity to ensure that as soon as lockdown opens, there are no shortages faced. Even in case of essentials, we are seeing that supplies have started to get impacted and so easing of lockdown may help ramp up production. Indian industry will comply with all the directions given by the Prime Minister and looks forward to the detailed guidelines on working of units in essential goods and services to be issued tomorrow by the government,” Dr Sangita Reddy, added.
Suman Chowdhury, Chief Analytical Officer at Acuité Ratings & Research says, "The extension of the Covid lockdown was expected given the risks that a resumption of regular economic activities can pose to the serious efforts being made by the government to control the outbreak of the pandemic. Clearly, a protracted lockdown will continue to have adverse implications on the domestic economy with daily economic losses of such large scale disruption pegged at USD 4.6 billion by our earlier study. However, we think progressive relaxation on certain economic activities may be made post April 20 at a local level depending on the extent of the outbreak in that area.
Detailing the suggestions on measures post lockdown announcement, Mr Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, CII said, “With limited resources, MSMEs do not have the capacity to withstand massive shocks like COVID 19. In addition, many MSMEs are an important part of larger supply chains. The health of these MSMEs have a bearing on the entire supply chain, including the large corporates”. “Therefore, special, immediate and substantive support measures are required to see the MSMEs through this crisis”, added Mr Banerjee.
The CII recommendations focus primarily on increasing the financing available to MSMEs with relaxed collateral norms, extension of the RBI moratorium and wage support. It also suggests expediting the Fund of Funds for MSMEs, which has been under the consideration of the Government, and augmenting the assets of MUDRA Bank.
