New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday met ministers and officials of civil aviation, animal husbandry, tourism and MSME ministries to take stock of the situation following the coronavirus outbreak.
The finance ministry is compiling various demands of these sectors which are severely impacted by Covid-19, Sitharaman told reporters.
The ministry will hold an internal meeting on Saturday to firm up the action plan to deal with the crisis, she added.
Finance Minister said a relief package for the distressed sectors of economy will be announced very soon. She also indicated that it will be a comprehensive package that will cover several sectors rather than announcement of separate sector specific reliefs.
In response to a question about the stability of financial markets, that have seen bloodbath in the recent times due to the impact of novel coronavirus, the finance minister said the measures announced by the stock market regulator SEBI today will help in keepings the market stable.
“But what we are going to do, I can't pare it out to say that I am doing this for the markets and I am doing that for the unorganised sector like that. At the moment we are at the critical stage of collecting everybody's input,” she told reporters.
She, however, refused to give a timeline for announcing the relief package to deal with the adverse impact of the Covid-19 virus on Indian economy but confirmed it will be announced soon.
“We will try to do it as quickly as possible,” she said.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his address to the nation had said the government is setting up a 'Covid-19 Economic Response Task Force' to decide on relief package for sectors hit by the coronavirus outbreak.
Giriraj discusses package for livestock industry with FM
Union Minister Giriraj Singh held discussions with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman about a relief package, including restructuring of loans, for livestock industry in the first meeting of the Economic Response Taskforce, formed to combat the economic effects of COVID-19 (coronavirus).
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Finance Minister Smt. @nsitharaman meets Shri @girirajsinghbjp , Minister for Animal Husbandry, Dairy & Fisheries to take feedback & assess the economic impact of #COVID19 in New Delhi today.#IndiaFightsCorona @nsitharamanoffc @Min_FAHD @PIB_India pic.twitter.com/694Z0Tg0KK
— Ministry of Finance (@FinMinIndia) March 20, 2020 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="
">Finance Minister Smt. @nsitharaman meets Shri @girirajsinghbjp , Minister for Animal Husbandry, Dairy & Fisheries to take feedback & assess the economic impact of #COVID19 in New Delhi today.#IndiaFightsCorona @nsitharamanoffc @Min_FAHD @PIB_India pic.twitter.com/694Z0Tg0KK
— Ministry of Finance (@FinMinIndia) March 20, 2020Finance Minister Smt. @nsitharaman meets Shri @girirajsinghbjp , Minister for Animal Husbandry, Dairy & Fisheries to take feedback & assess the economic impact of #COVID19 in New Delhi today.#IndiaFightsCorona @nsitharamanoffc @Min_FAHD @PIB_India pic.twitter.com/694Z0Tg0KK
— Ministry of Finance (@FinMinIndia) March 20, 2020
"Livestock industry has been hit badly because of the coronavirus outbreak. We discussed various kinds of measures, including loan restructuring, that can help people engaged in this sector," Singh, who is Minister of Animal Husbandry, Fisheries and Dairying, told reporters here after the meeting.
Indian poultry industry is alone worth Rs 1.5 lakh crore. More than 10 lakh small farmers are directly engaged in the poultry industry, while crores of people are indirectly dependent on this sector, he said.
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"All issues were discussed in details. The finance minister gave a positive response. Hopefully, positive steps will be taken...," he added.
Speaking after the meeting, Tourism Minister Prahlad Singh Patel said the ministry has been assessing the situation.
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Finance Minister Smt @nsitharaman meets Shri @prahladspatel, Minister of Tourism, to assess the economic impact of #COVID19 on tourism sector in New Delhi today.@nsitharamanoffc @pspoffice @tourismgoi#IndiaFightsCorona pic.twitter.com/m50xmQhmed
— Ministry of Finance (@FinMinIndia) March 20, 2020 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="
">Finance Minister Smt @nsitharaman meets Shri @prahladspatel, Minister of Tourism, to assess the economic impact of #COVID19 on tourism sector in New Delhi today.@nsitharamanoffc @pspoffice @tourismgoi#IndiaFightsCorona pic.twitter.com/m50xmQhmed
— Ministry of Finance (@FinMinIndia) March 20, 2020Finance Minister Smt @nsitharaman meets Shri @prahladspatel, Minister of Tourism, to assess the economic impact of #COVID19 on tourism sector in New Delhi today.@nsitharamanoffc @pspoffice @tourismgoi#IndiaFightsCorona pic.twitter.com/m50xmQhmed
— Ministry of Finance (@FinMinIndia) March 20, 2020
"We all know that the tourism sector has been impacted. The finance minister is already concerned about the impact of coronavirus on all the sectors. We will properly assess the losses to the sector and then decide if any package has to be granted for the industry," he said.
Govt mulls late repayment of loans for MSMEs to tide over coronavirus impact
The government is mulling measures like allowing late repayment of loans by the micro, small and medium enterprises to support the sector amid the coronavirus outbreak, sources said.
"We have discussed various things including fiscal support... some kind of deferment to ease the whole thing. The issues related to GST were also discussed," said an official after meeting Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman here.
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With a view to assess the economic impact of #COVID19 on MSME Sector, Finance Minister Smt @nsitharaman held a meeting in New Delhi today. Meeting was attended by Finance Secretary , Secretary DEA & Secretary MSME @nsitharamanoffc @minmsme#IndiaFightsCorona pic.twitter.com/ZRDhgHnzj9
— Ministry of Finance (@FinMinIndia) March 20, 2020 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="
">With a view to assess the economic impact of #COVID19 on MSME Sector, Finance Minister Smt @nsitharaman held a meeting in New Delhi today. Meeting was attended by Finance Secretary , Secretary DEA & Secretary MSME @nsitharamanoffc @minmsme#IndiaFightsCorona pic.twitter.com/ZRDhgHnzj9
— Ministry of Finance (@FinMinIndia) March 20, 2020With a view to assess the economic impact of #COVID19 on MSME Sector, Finance Minister Smt @nsitharaman held a meeting in New Delhi today. Meeting was attended by Finance Secretary , Secretary DEA & Secretary MSME @nsitharamanoffc @minmsme#IndiaFightsCorona pic.twitter.com/ZRDhgHnzj9
— Ministry of Finance (@FinMinIndia) March 20, 2020
Senior officials from the union MSME ministry met the Finance Minister here and suggested various measures to help the country's micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) sector tide over the present crisis.
The industry is facing major disruptions in the supply chain owing to the coronavirus outbreak amid weakness in consumption demand.
Addressing these problems constructively: Aviation minister on layoffs and pay cut in airlines
Days after GoAir announced layoff of expat pilots and IndiGo declared pay cut for its senior employees due to precipitous fall in revenues amid coronavirus pandemic, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said that the Central government is "addressing all these problems" constructively.
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Finance Minister Smt @nsitharaman meets Shri @HardeepSPuri, Minister for Aviation, Housing and Urban Affairs to assess the economic impact of #COVID19 on aviation sector in New Delhi today.@nsitharamanoffc @MoCA_GoI#IndiaFightsCorona pic.twitter.com/fzD470qOx5
— Ministry of Finance (@FinMinIndia) March 20, 2020 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="
">Finance Minister Smt @nsitharaman meets Shri @HardeepSPuri, Minister for Aviation, Housing and Urban Affairs to assess the economic impact of #COVID19 on aviation sector in New Delhi today.@nsitharamanoffc @MoCA_GoI#IndiaFightsCorona pic.twitter.com/fzD470qOx5
— Ministry of Finance (@FinMinIndia) March 20, 2020Finance Minister Smt @nsitharaman meets Shri @HardeepSPuri, Minister for Aviation, Housing and Urban Affairs to assess the economic impact of #COVID19 on aviation sector in New Delhi today.@nsitharamanoffc @MoCA_GoI#IndiaFightsCorona pic.twitter.com/fzD470qOx5
— Ministry of Finance (@FinMinIndia) March 20, 2020
After a meeting here with Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Puri said he did discuss with her the matters related to the virus' impact on Indian aviation sector.
(PTI Report)
