‘Watch next few days’: Finance minister’s advice to India Inc
NEW DELHI: Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday lauded the industry for its forbearance amid the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic but asked them to wait and watch for the next few days to correctly assess the situation even as the government takes policy measures to protect both lives and livelihoods.
“I would request the industry to watch the next few days a bit more carefully, and then assess for yourself what this quarter is going to be like,” she said while addressing the national executive committee members of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) virtually.
She assured the industry that the government is determined to contain the pandemic with a five-fold strategy — test, track, treat, Covid-19 protocols, and vaccination. The government, along with the industry, will assess the situation and take appropriate measures to sustain the growth momentum, she said.
The raging second wave of Covid-19 infections in India is threatening to derail the gradual recovery the economy achieved in the last one year, according to the trajectory of the Nomura India Business
Resumption Index (NIBRI). Experts believe that the worst is yet to come as more states resort to restrictions to prevent the surge in infections from overwhelming medical infrastructure.
A 68-day nationwide lockdown from March 25 last year led to a 24.4% contraction of the economy in the first quarter of 2020-21. The economy shrank by 7.3% in the second quarter, before expanding by 0.4% in the three months ended December 31. Overall, the economy is expected to contract by 8% in 2020-21.
Addressing another virtual gathering of over 150 businessmen at the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Sitharaman emphasised the need is to adopt micro containment strategy in dealing with the second surge of the pandemic as the country has important tools such as vaccines and medicines.
She assured seamless supply of oxygen to states through measures such as round-theclock working of the oxygen filling stations, allowing containers for nitrogen and argon to be used for oxygen and import of medical oxygen. She was replying to CII president Uday Kotak’s suggestions to ramp up vaccination and ensure adequate supplies of oxygen, medicines and beds to contain the spread of pandemic.
Speaking at Ficci, Sitharaman said the supply of oxygen has been very neatly mapped and new permissions have been given particularly for the hard stressed 12 states — Delhi, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. “The government has exempted all interstate movement of oxygen tankers, exempted from registration and permits, they can operate round the clock, and cylinder filling plants are operating 24 hours to fill the gaps with necessary safeguards,” she said.
Sitharaman said the government initiatives would help to ramp up capacity of producing remdesivir, a vital anti-viral drug, from 3.6 million vials per month to 7.8 million vials per month. The government on Tuesday allowed duty-free import of the drug and its raw materials.