Modi Connects With India Inc As Factories, Offices Shut Down

Business leaders ask govt to let go of fiscal target, seek stimulus, direct cash transfer

- Subhayan Chakraborty

Top India Inc representatives, in an unusual video-conference meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, sought a fiscal stimulus for industry to battle the coronavirus crisis that has forced factories and offices to shut down indefinitely.

The business leaders, including Hindustan Unilever Chairman and Managing Director Sanjeev Mehta, TVS Chairman Venu Srinivasan, and Piramal group Chairman Ajay Piramal, also told the PM that monetary incentives must be given to the vulnerable sections.

Modi had called the virtual meeting to discuss possible solutions to the rapidly declining industrial production after the government decided to shut down around 80 coronavirus-hit districts, with further plans to introduce similar steps for other major urban centres.

Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (Ficci) President Sangita Reddy, as well as her counterpart in the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Vikram Kirloskar, attended the meeting, along with other members. They were united in the idea of direct cash benefit transfers to the economically vulnerable population.