Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman sought inputs from industry chambers on how to deal with the pandemic.

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

Sitharaman had interactions with the heads of industry chambers including CII president Uday Kotak, Ficci president Uday Shankar and Assocham president Vineet Agarwal.

She also spoke to industrialists such as Tata Steel managing director T.V. Narendran, L&T chairman A.M. Naik, TCS managing director Rajesh Gopinathan, Maruti Suzuki chairman R. C. Bhargava and TVS Group chairman Venu Srinivasan.

“Do not think lockdown is the appropriate response this time. Will do more harm than good,” Bhargava said.

BCC&I inputs

The finance minister had called BCC&I president Deb A. Mukherjee on Sunday.

Mukherjee said there should not be a nationwide lockdown like 2020. The focus should be on micro level containment zones.

“She pointed out India is better prepared to deal with second wave and a complete lockdown is not being envisaged,” Mukherjee said

The Chamber suggested infrastructure should be ramped up to test as many people as possible. Moreover, a detailed road map should be planned for faster roll-out.

The conversation ended with Sitharaman enquiring if the industry needs any more support, indicating the Centre may have stimulus sops in the pipeline.

With inputs from Calcutta Bureau