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Lockdown extended, Gadkari asks biz to be prepared to restart economy
Gadkari also informed industries that the Reserve Bank of India has allowed rescheduling of term loans and working capital facilities to ease the liquidity pressure on businesses.
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday asked micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to turn the adverse impact of the coronavirus outbreak on their business into an opportunity while urging them to be prepared to attract investors who he said were looking to move out of China after the pandemic outbreak in search of safer locations.
The minister for road transport and highways and MSMEs said the government was ready to support their resurgence after the outbreak was contained and added that he was striving to increase the credit guarantee to MSMEs to Rs five lakh crore from the present level of about Rs one lakh crore, according to a government release.
Gadkari made these statements while interacting with FICCI representatives on a web-based seminar on Tuesday where he apprised the industry representatives of the various decisions taken by the government to keep businesses afloat during the times of coronavirus.
Gadkari’s interaction comes on a day when prime minister Narendra Modi decided to extend the national lockdown by another 19 days to May 3 and said certain relaxations for the resumption of economic activities could be granted in areas that were free from coronavirus infections after doing a strict assessment of the situation post April 20.
The PM also added that he was aware of the huge business losses due to the lockdown measure but there was no other way to overcome the situation. Several political parties have demanded that the government announce a larger fiscal stimulus equalling at least 5-6% of the GDP in addition to the first package worth Rs 1.7 lakh crore announce last month.
A government release said Gadkari also informed them that the Reserve Bank of India has allowed rescheduling of term loans and working capital facilities to ease the liquidity pressure on businesses.
Speaking about the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Gadkari said he was working to increase credit gaurantee to MSMEs to Rs Five lakh crore from the present level of about Rs one lakh crore wherein 75per cent of the advances granted by financial institutions are gauranteed under the Credit Gauranttee Scheme of the Govt. He assured that the issues raised by the industry especially by MSMEs will be taken up discussed with relevant Ministries and Departments.
On construction of highways, Gadkari said it should increase pace by 2-3 times in the coming years to meet the growing needs of the infrastructure sector. He added that work is being done on a war footing to kick start the road construction projects at various locations while taking adequate measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
He promised cutting down on time taken to clear projects and other decisions to avoid delays. He said he has requested National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) and its arbitration units to decide matters within 3 months.
He added that around 280 matters had already been resolved within a short time. He added that the ministry had definitive plan to clear all legitimate claims for payments more or less within the next 3 months.
He also asked the industry to work towards improving its export potential.
