New Delhi: Indian industry has urged the Centre and the State governments to reach out to the most vulnerable sections of the industry with the best possible relief.
Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham), which has 250 chambers and trade associations in its fold, Wednesday urged the governments to focus on the informal sector amidst the restrictions on business activities in different parts of the country. According to an estimate, more than 80 per cent of India’s labour force is in the informal sector.
The industry body further said that it was working with the Maharashtra government to mitigate the economic impact of its 15-day curfew announced by State Chief Minister Uddhav Thackrey on Tuesday.
The curfew, which exempts essential services, will come into effect from 8 pm on Wednesday.
"We would continue to remain engaged with the central and the Maharashtra governments, in our efforts to mitigate the economic impact of the 15-day Jantata Curfew in the state,” said Assocham.
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It has also approached all the states and the Centre to provide liberal regulatory and financial forbearances for compliances.
Fixed charges like electricity dues, lease rentals, licence fees and other levies should be waived, to help businesses maintain continuity, it suggested.
“Restaurants, hotels, small eateries should be given financial support for retaining the manpower, while the formal sectors of the economy should be engaged for regulatory forbearances,” Assocham added.
Echoing its views, another industry body FICCI said it has interactions with the Maharashtra government and the chamber has shared inputs from its members both on policy and operational issues.
"We are certainly hopeful that this (restrictions) will help slow the transmission of the virus. However, the lockdown will have a deep impact on the state's economy and FICCI Maharashtra will engage deeply with the stakeholders in the government to minimise the impact and smoothen out the implementation related issues," Sulajja Firodia Motwani, chairperson of FICCI Maharashtra, said.
In an earlier interaction with ETV Bharat, Nikunj Sanghi, President, Automobile Skill Development Council (ASDC), said that Maharashtra alone accounts for nearly 35 per cent of the country’s total automobile production and any restrictions on industrial activities in the state would adversely affect the unorganised workers like mechanics and people working in small workshops.
Since early March, States like Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh have started imposing restrictions such as night curfew and lockdown to control the growing number of Covid-19 infections.
According to experts, these restrictions will accentuate India’s unemployment problem.
The latest data of the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) shows that the unemployment rate has gone by 0.60 per cent in the last three weeks.
According to the data, the country-wide unemployment rate (30-day moving average) was at 6.53 per cent on March 21, while it went up to 7.13 per cent on April 13.
(With Agency Inputs)
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