The nationwide strike called by opposition parties on Thursday has caused a loss of around 12,500 crores, according to a release by Confederation of Indian Industry.
The business chamber said that the Government of India should not yield to political pressure on reforms. "Good
economics seldom makes for good politics and therefore, it is important to communicate to the masses the merit and necessity of the reform measures announced by the Government," the release said.
Reiterating CII’s support for the decisions on fuel subsidy rationalisation and easing of FDI norms for select sectors, the CII release said that the people of India would benefit from this. President Adi Godrej said, "It is not often that bold measures are announced to take economic reforms to the next level and whenever such announcements have been made, there have been pain felt by many. But the merits of the reforms that were first initiated in the early nineties are there for everyone to see. Irrespective of whichever political party has been in the government since then, the reforms have not been reversed," he said.
"CII is hopeful that parties across the political spectrum of the country would work to ensure that the economic reforms that are necessary for India are carried out.”
Opposition parties led by the BJP called for a nation wide strike to oppose the recent reform measures introduced by the UPA government.