Centre working to save lives & livelihoods: FM to India Inc

Finance Minister has sought feedback over impact on businesses and economy

Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the Centre is working with state governments to save lives and livelihoods in an interaction with industry chambers on concerns of India Inc with respect to the second wave of the pandemic.

Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said the Centre is working with state governments to save lives and livelihoods.

She said this during an interaction with industry chambers on concerns of India Inc with respect to the second wave of the pandemic.

She is learnt to have also sought feedback on the impact on businesses and the Indian economy.

Some heads of industry chambers with whom she interacted include Kotak Mahindra Bank managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO) Uday Kotak, who is also president of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Uday Shankar of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI), Deb Mukherjee of Bengal Chamber of Commerce and TR Parasuraman of Bangalore Chamber of Commerce.

“Spoke on the telephone with each of the following business/chamber leaders. Took their inputs on industry/association related matters. Informed them that the government at various levels is responding to Covid management. Working together with states for lives and livelihoods,” she said in a tweet.

She also spoke to top corporates, including Tata Steel MD TV Narendran, Larsen & Toubro chairman AM Naik, TCS MD Rajesh Gopinathan,

Maruti Suzuki chairman RC Bhargava, TVS Group chairman Venu Srinivasan and Hero Moto Corp MD Pawan Munjal. She took their feedback on the situation arising out of the surging Covid cases and local containments.

Same time around last year, the outbreak had badly hit the economy, which contracted 23.9 per cent in the first quarter (April-june) compared to the previous fiscal year (2019).

However, the government has maintained the stand that India is well prepared to combat the scourge of the second wave. In the finance ministry’s monthly economic report of March, it had said that high-frequency data indicates that India is on the path to becoming better and stronger.

The rise in daily cases since midfebruary marks the onset of the second wave of the infection in India, the report had said. It added that the country “has, however, been able to delay the onset of the second wave – the gap between the first peak to start of the second wave has been 151 days in India while it was much lower in other countries.”

The country’s total tally of Covid cases crossed 15 million with a record single-day rise of 273,810 new coronavirus infections. Active cases surpassed the 1.9 million-mark, according to the Union health ministry’s data updated on Monday.

Finmin had also stated in the report that as far as economic activities are concerned, the country has adapted itself to the pandemic. This prospect is further bolstered by the roll-out of vaccination, it said.

Besides, India is emphasising a fivefold strategy to curb the tide of new cases. They include increase in testing, effective isolation and contact tracing of those infected as well as ensuring Covid-appropriate behaviour.