India Inc cheers partial opening up, says it will help chart exit strategy

NEW DELHI: Corporate India has welcomed the home affairs ministry’s guidelines for extended nationwide lockdown till May 3, saying partial opening up after April 20 will help businesses chart out an exit strategy, and lauded the decision to allow agricultural and allied activities.

The move to allow daily wage earners in the services sector to resume operations after April 20 will bring relief to the self-employed, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) said in a statement on Wednesday.

“The guidelines issued today are extremely relevant and give comfort to industry about the phased restart of the economy,” said Vikram Kirloskar, president of CII. "The government has done well to completely allow agriculture and allied activities to function during this harvesting period, with health protocols to be followed,” he said.


Other industry associations such as Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) and Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Asso-cham), too, welcomed the government move to restart economic activities in a calibrated manner.

“It is now crucial to announce a relief and economic stimulus package, which protects wage, employment & business,” Ficci president Sangita Reddy, said. Assocham secretary general Deepak Sood said if the partial opening up after April 20 is implemented well and in a responsible manner, the economic activities can be restored to the extent of 30-40% “by our back-of-the-envelope calculations”.

“Industries operating in rural areas or outside the municipality limits, special economic zones and industrial townships with certain conditions, which can be fulfilled with some costs, are a kind of partial lifting of lockdown,” Sood said in a statement.