News Desk
New Delhi: The Indian industrial sector has said that to save human life extension of the lockdown was necessary but there is a need for a bailout package for the industrial sector which has suffered losses during the lockdown.
Though the industrial sector is awaiting the guidelines to be issued on Wednesday which might speak on relaxations in some parts of the country where coronavirus cases are less in number.
The impact of coronavirus is visible now and due to problems faced by lakhs of migrant labours the situation has turned worrisome. It is due to this reason that chief ministers of some of the state have demanded relaxation in some sectors.
What the industrial sector says?
National president of FICCI Sangeeta Reddy says that due to lockdown India might be suffering a loss of Rs 40000 crore every day. And in the past 7-8 days the amount could be anything between 7-8 lakh crore. She said that between April to September 2020 about 4 crore jobs will be under threat. This is why a relief package is necessary.
General director of the CII Chandrajeet Banerjee says that extension of lockdown by the prime minister was necessary to stop a big threat to the mankind. Also the PM has given a directive to come out of the lockdown after April 20 and this will help industries plan better.
State vice president of the Chamber of Industries RN Singh says that about 95% of the production industry has got near zero production now. As industries are closed the raw material is getting spoiled and there are other difficulties too.
The finished product is dumped neither there is payment from the market. A letter has been written to the commissioner establishment and industrial development demanding relaxation in fixed electricity charges, bank interest for four months and relief in GST too.
IT sector’s NASCOM has said that they are happy about relaxation in infection free zones and expect the government will soon announce relief package also. This will pave way to reconstruct the economy as the work to rebuild life and earning should go together.
State general secretary of the Chamber of Industries Praveen Modi said that industries have paid the March salary to workers by April 7 but even those units that have permission to start production are unable to do so as labours do not have permission to travel. The commissioner assured passes for workers and said the issue will be solved soon.
Federation of India Export Organisation (FIEO) national president Sharad Kumar Sarraf said that exporters particularly the MSME exporters had no money to pay salary in April as they did no business during lockdown.
He expressed dissatisfaction over the decision to postpone the start of manufacturing and particularly the export units. He said that for lack of labours, raw material it will be difficult to start select manufacturing units.