The lockdown has put a fullstop to all economic activities in the country. The losses in each sector is getting manifold. From aviation to tourism to auto sector, all are facing extremely enormous amounts of losses. Coronavirus has created turmoil in the entire world. The cases worldwide has reached 3.3M with 235k deaths and cases in India has crossed 37,000 with 1,152 deaths.
Union Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Prakash Javadekar on Thursday met prominent industrialists of the auto sector. During this time he gave his suggestions on the issue of dealing with the situation arising out of the lockdown and speeding up the area after the lockdown ends. Also, he was interested to know the opinions/suggestions of industrialists.
Auto sector employs maximum number of people
All the prominent industrialists of the auto sector were present in this meeting through video conferencing. The main topic of discussion was about the commencement of functioning in the area after the end of lockdown. Significantly, the auto sector provides the highest employment in the country. It also gives the highest GST among all the sectors.
Great loss to the auto sector
Last year, the auto sector was heavily burdened with moving from BS-4 to BS-6 vehicles. Many people postponed the purchase. They were waiting for new vehicles. The lockdown due to the Corona crisis in 2020 has greatly affected the region. Also, the auto sector is facing huge losses due to the present lockdown. For example Tata Motors hasn’t produced any car since 36 days. Till now they have incurred a loss of 12 billion rupees and half a million people lay unemployed.
Demands and suggestions from industrialists
After the meeting, Javadekar said that the following demands were put by industrialists in the discussion. These include :
- reducing GST
- providing employment support
- supporting retail chains, suppliers and liquidity.
Javadekar told the industrialists that after the lockdown is over, the employees should be examined in various batches and work should be started by taking all precautionary measures like social distancing.
Who all participated?
Many industrialists like Rajan Wadhera, RC Bhargava, Pawan Goenka, Pawan Munjal, Shailesh Chandra participated in the meeting.
Coronavirus cases in India reach 37,257; 1,223 deaths
Coronavirus cases has risen to 37,257 in India with 1,223 deaths. Total recoveries in India are 10,007 and active cases are 26,024. In the last 24 hours maximum cases were reported i.e. 2,391.
In the world as well, the cases are continuously increasing. America tops the list with 1.13M cases and 65,435 deaths.
