CII COVID-19 CODE and CII COVID – 19 Rehabilitation and Relief Pool Fund setup by CII

To help MSMEs and society at large from the impact of disruptions caused by COVID-19: CII President

CII has
developed and advocated a COVID-19 CODE to its members to help its workers and
society at large from the impact of disruptions caused by COVID-19.

“We
announced our initiatives at the interactive meeting with Prime Minister Modi
earlier today “ Our initiatives to help the economically deprived people
particularly our commitment to not retrench any worker including blue collar
and contract workers resonated well with PM Modi who appreciated industry’s
efforts, “ said CII President Vikram Kirloskar.

CII
members will dedicate their plant facilities to help scale up manufacture and
availability of essential goods and equipment needed to deal with the medical
emergency like ventilators sanitisers, essential drugs, medical services, on a
no-profit basis, and build a cadre of volunteers for public service the CII
CODE advocates.

Uday
Kotak president designate of CII spoke about the COVID Rehabilitation Fund it
is important to look at the micro and small industry who will need special hand
holding and help to rehabilitate their business. “The CII COVID Rehabilitation
and Relief Fund (CRR) will be an industry led initiative to work with the MSME
sector,” said Kotak.

Elaborating
on some of the major interventions required from RBI, Kotak said that it is
important that a rate cut of 50 to 100 basis points is announced immediately.
He also called for dollar liquidity swap as India was in a comfortable position
as far as its dollar reserves are concerned. Given the need to help people at
the bottom of the pyramid, CII has called for cash into the bank accounts of
all whose earnings are below Rs 5 lakhs. All Indian citizens should be given
cash in their accounts through the direct benefit transfer; While those below
25 years can be given a one-time payment of Rs 5000, senior citizens above 65
age can be given Rs 10,000, CII has said.

There is
a need to ensure that all migrant workers continue to stay in the cities where
they work and so providing for enablers is crucial.

All
borrowers should be given a three-month moratorium on all loans and all
repayment obligations should be suspended for this period. CII also emphasised
that there is an immediate need to facilitate and enable advances for ways and
means for industry across sectors and the government could perhaps explore
options of a moratorium on interest and principle for the next three months. It
may also be important to suspend IBC proceedings while redefining norms for
NPAs as several companies will be unable to meet their payment obligations.

Also, the
need for close coordination between regulators like RBI, MCA and SEBI to get
effective results and implementation was highlighted.