Measures to save economy after Coronavirus outbreak to be announced soon: Sitharaman

Sitharaman had invited industries' representatives to assess the impact of Coronavirus outbreak in China and sectors including Pharma, textiles, chemical, solar, were present in the meeting.

Senior officials from concerned Government Ministries/Departments, Customs, representatives from Banking, Insurance, Auto, Paper, Electronics, Petroleum, Chemical, Energy, Solar, Renewable Energy, Power, Pharma sectors and leaders from FICCI, CII and ASSOCHAM attended the meeting.

After interaction with industry and other bodies, Sitharaman told reporters that due to the Coronavirus, along with Indian imports and exports, other industries have also been affected.

On whether the economy and 'Make in India' or exports will be affected due to Caronavirus, she said that it has not been evaluated yet.

Make in India is not likely to be affected, she said.

The minister said that this should be seen as a challenge as well as an opportunity as it can only reduce the dependence on imports and more emphasis should be on the production of raw materials domestically.

There were no talks of price rise on coronavirus-led supply issue, the minister said.

She said she has heard all of them and on Wednesday afternoon, a secretary-level meeting with sectoral secretaries will be held to deal with the issues highlighted today.

After discussions with the Prime Minister's Office, measures will be announced to protect the economy from the Coronavirus, she said.

The Finance Minister said that the products coming from China were stuck at some ports because the goods have arrived but its papers have not arrived.

In view of this, the customs department has been asked to start the delivery of goods to importers, to solve the problem.

For this, self-certification of the importer is being discussed, she said, adding that with this, considering the huge increase in arrivals after the end of the coronavirus cases, the government has started thinking on measures to be taken to deal with jams at the ports.

Representatives from the fields of Pharma, Telecom, IT hardware manufacturers, Electronics, Paint, Chemicals, Fertilizers, Edible oils, Shipping, Glass, Mobile manufacturing, Surgery and Surgical Instruments, Tourism participated in the meeting.

Commerce Secretary, Secretary of Heavy Industries, Telecom Secretary and Secretaries of several other departments were also present in this meeting.