NEW DELHI: Ahead of Union Budget 2022-23, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has urged state governments to lift restrictions on economic activity.
CII said Hospitalisation rates in the present wave stand at manageable levels and therefore, industry feels that Covid-related restrictions can be removed to enable the robust recovery process to continue.
"With a lower level of hospitalizations seen in the Omicron variant, it is possible to maintain normal economic activities and protect lives and livelihoods,” said Mr T V Narendran, President, CII.
CII requested that the Government should encourage industry to deploy CSR funding towards providing precautionary shots to the community.
Further, industry is ready to contribute an additional 1% under the CSR norms to the national vaccination mission, apart from the mandated 2%, and this can be part of the Budget for a period of 12 months only, suggested CII.
Narendran added, “CII suggests that 1% of mandated CSR funds be earmarked for vaccination. We also recommend that an additional 1% be added to CSR requirements in the Budget, for a specified period of 12 months, so that boosters can be made available to all age-groups."
“In fact, our recommendation has been that if companies spend on vaccines for their employees, their families and members of the community, then that expense can be set off against this additional CSR spend.”