NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday asked industry leaders to ensure jobs are not lost and production of essential commodities remained uninterrupted, despite the negative impact that the Coronavirus pandemic has been having on the Indian economy.
At a video-conferencing meeting with top industry leaders who included Uday Kotak, Nirmal Hiranandani, N Chandrasekhar, Hari Bhartia, Sanjeev Goenka, Harshpati Singhania, Sangeeta Reddy and Vikram Kirloskar, the prime minster took stock of the economic situation and heard demands ranging from sharp cuts in GST, salary subsidy to keep on workers, to work with the RBI to cut the cost of funds and relax NPA norms for stressed sectors.
Modi told business leaders that even as his government was working on giving a fillip to economic growth in the country, an unforeseen hurdle in the form of COVID-19 came in front of economy. He was quoted by a release as stating that “the challenge posed by the pandemic is graver than even that posed by the World Wars and we need to be on constant vigil to prevent its spread.”
The PM acknowledged that the informal sector will face the brunt and the impact on the overall economy will be felt gradually. He said several sectors like tourism, construction, hospitality and other small businesses, including the informal sector, have been hit.
He interacted with pharma sector leaders and asked them to work on manufacture of RNA testing kits for COVID-19 on war-footing. He assured them that the government is committed to maintaining supplies of drug ingredients.“The PM said the fulcrum of the economy is trust. Trust has a unique yardstick - it is earned or lost in difficult and challenging times.
The parameters of trust are at a critical juncture in various sectors of the economy,” it said.He stressed it would be important to maintain supply of essential medicines and prevent black marketing and hoarding. Separately to maintain smooth supply of foodgrains in the country amidst the Covid-19 breakout, the centre said that state governments will be able to procure 3 months supply of foodgrains on credit from Food Corporation of India (FCI).