The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has allowed traders to submit an undertaking instead of furnishing bonds – required by customs for assessment and clearing of goods – in order to prevent delays or disruption in exports or imports caused by Covid 19 pandemic. The decision was taken after field formations flagged the unavailability of notarised stamp papers for furnishing the bonds that was being faced by importers, exporters and their authorised custom brokers, during the lockdown period. The Board will review the order after April 14, when the nationwide lockdown ends. “In light of unprecedented situation caused due to Covid 19 pandemic, Board has decided to take certain measures for a temporary period, with a view to expedite customs clearance of goods and for maintaining balance between customs control and facilitation of legitimate trade,” CBIC said in a notice Friday, giving relaxation of furnishing bonds till April 30. “In the period up to April 30, customs field formations may accept requests for submission of an undertaking from the importer/ exporter in lieu of a bond,” it added. The relaxation applies to central and state PSUs, manufacturers or actual users, importers, authorised economic operators, status holders and all importers availing warehousing facilities. There will be certain conditions, including one that the trader gives a commitment to furnish the bonds, latest by July 5, 2020. Traders will have to submit the undertaking, the contents of which will have to be the same as the bond. The relaxation may also be given to traders who ask for it, on a case to case basis, the Board added.
Source: Economic Times
Due to outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, there is severe disruption in the normal working of almost all sectors. To mitigate the hardships of taxpayers, the CBDT has issued the following directions/clarifications by exercise of its power u/s 119 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (the Act):
All the assessees who have filed application for lower or nil deduction of TDS/TCS for F.Y. 2020-21 and whose applications are pending for disposal as on date and they have been issued such certificates for F.Y. 2019-20, then such certificates would be applicable till 30.06.2020 of F.Y. 2020-21 or disposal of their applications by the Assessing Officers, whichever is earlier, in respect of the transaction and the deductor or collector if any, for whom the certificate was issued for F.Y. 2019-20. In cases where the assessees could not apply for issue of lower or nil deduction of TDS/TCS in the Traces Portal for the F.Y. 2020-21, but were having the certificates for F.Y. 2019-20, such certificates will be applicable till 30.06.2020 of F.Y. 2020-21. However, they need to apply at the earliest giving details of the transactions and the Deductor/Collector to the TDS/TCS Assessing Officer as per procedure prescribed. Further, on payments to Non-residents (including foreign companies) having Permanent Establishment in India, where the above applications are pending, tax on payments made will be deducted at the subsidised rate of 10% including surcharge and cess, on such payments till 30.06.2020 of F.Y. 2020-21, or disposal of their applications, whichever is earlier (Order passed on 31.03.2020). In case of pending applications for lower/nil rate of TDS/TCS for F.Y. 2019-20, the Assessing Officers have been directed to dispose off the applications through a liberal procedure by 27.04.2020, so that the taxpayers may not have to pay extra tax which may cause liquidity issues to them (Order passed on 03.04.2020). To mitigate the hardships of small taxpayers, it has been decided that if a person had submitted valid Forms 15G and 15H to the Banks or other institutions for F.Y. 2019-20, then these Forms would be valid up to 30.06.2020. This will safeguard the small tax payers against TDS where there is no tax liability (Order passed on 03.04.2020).
All the above orders passed u/s 119 of the Act are available on www.incometaxindia.gov.in under the head Miscellaneous Communications.
Source: PIB
The Centre is considering a demand made by exporters to allow units to work with 50 per cent of their workforce amid the lockdown. Exporters are concerned that a complete halt in production for the entire period could lead to the permanent loss of some markets. “The Commerce Ministry, Home Ministry and Finance Ministry are examining the request and a decision is likely soon,” a government official told BusinessLine. “The Centre also has to take a call on the level of supervision under which manufacturing can be allowed, as exporters are not in favour of too many inspections.” Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla recently held a video conference with the Chief Secretaries of all States to discuss allowing limited production in manufacturing units in the lockdown period. While Punjab and Haryana have already allowed factories to function, some manufacturers complain that there are way too many conditions with regard to environment, health and labour, and related inspections, hampering operations. “All exporters are willing to adhere to the safety norms prescribed by the government, such as ensuring adequate distancing and maintaining hygiene. But if we go back to the ‘Inspector Raj’ regime, it will make things difficult,” said a person with a garments factory in Ludhiana.
Limited manufacturing
Exporters from various sectors have been asking Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal to ensure that they are allowed to continue with production even if it is not at full capacity. In a meeting that Goyal held with exporters across sectors earlier this week through video conference, the latter proposed that all manufacturing companies in exports be allowed to operate, with 50 per cent of the manpower, maintaining sanitation, safety and social distancing norms. Otherwise, the loss in exports will result in market loss, which will be extremely difficult to recover, they said.“Our loss will be China’s gain, which is using all means to gain greater market access with increased export rebate VAT,” pointed out the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) in its presentation. The FIEO has also written to the Home Ministry, proposing that exporting units be allowed to function in all States. With the number of Covid-19 cases crossing 2,000 in India, with over 50 deaths, there is little certainty on what the situation will be on April 14, when the lockdown period ends, leaving exporters even more anxious about their operations.
Source: The Hindu Business Line
Despite the health impacts of the corona-crisis, the biggest challenge for India will be in terms of economic policy. Since the nationwide lockdown on March 24, various branches of the Indian government have issued dozens of notifications to clarify the scope of the lockdown, develop the health system’s response, and support the real economy and the financial system. These are illustrations of the strength of the Indian ruling elite. It remains to be seen how well these pieces of paper and digital documents translate into effective action. In the United States, projections of the death toll from the pandemic are drawing comparisons with that country’s past wars. The nature of the societal response that is needed has also used war as an analogy for the effort to overcome the virus. Independent India has not faced a crisis like this in its seven plus decades, with large-scale war and famine being legacies of the colonial period. Independent India faces its biggest challenge ever. Everyone recognises that the healthcare system will be the first line of defence against the pandemic, and that India’s resources are lacking. Even advanced countries like the US and Italy have been seeing their healthcare systems come under enormous strains. India will need a range of equipment for those on the frontlines, and will have to go beyond domestic production to get what it needs. It remains to be seen whether the bureaucracy can be flexible enough to search globally for what is needed. This will apply to healthcare professionals as well as supplies and equipment, and may require domestic reallocations as well as looking abroad. Eleven “Empowered Groups” have been constituted, covering different dimensions of the needed responses. How well they work will have to be seen. Again, the US provides an example of weakness and failure at the federal level, in sharing equipment and supplies across states from national stockpiles, and in failing to coordinate and prioritise support for the worst hit states. Will the different Empowered Groups coordinate well, and how will they implement what needs to be done? Beyond the frontline of care for the stricken, testing, contact tracing, and more complex aspects of societal management require on-ground engagement that will be a challenge for lower levels of government. One has already seen better responses from police forces in southern states, which have higher literacy and stronger civil society in general, versus northern ones, including well-off areas such as the National Capital Territory. The challenges will be even greater in rural areas, and one cannot help but wonder whether the manner in which the lockdown was implemented, leading to a hasty and painful dispersion of migrant workers to their home villages, will still end up making it more difficult to track, isolate, and treat disease cases. Despite the critical nature and human consequences of frontline healthcare and public health interventions, perhaps the biggest challenge for India will be in terms of economic policy. In a situation unprecedented since the Great Depression, it is difficult to estimate exactly what ought to be done. But, observing what is being done in the US, it seems that India needs to do more than it has so far, even though much has been announced in terms of new measures since the lockdown was announced. My own opinion is that RBI should provide even more support for financial markets, and for the finances of financial and non-financial firms. It should consider another interest rate cut as well. Even more importantly, the central government should be pumping more money into the economy, both in the form of transfers, and by supporting aggregate production and investment. In the current situation, it seems to me that all fiscal deficit targets are irrelevant in the short run. The government should borrow what it needs, and RBI should make this possible. Control of the health crisis at the expense of a prolonged downturn in the economy, well beyond what was already being experienced, will substitute one form of suffering for another. Of course, there will be concerns about inflation, but the collapse in the price of oil will help enormously. Another major source of inflation is food prices, and the government should be focusing very heavily on maintaining, and even improving, food supply chains, and enlisting the help of state governments to ensure that agricultural commodities move freely across the country. This will also mean rolling back some of the lockdown on transport systems—that complete shutdown was one of the worst aspects of the lockdown as initially announced. The government should also release food grains from its stocks, and import food if necessary, to make sure that food supplies are sufficient. Another concern about government spending is that it may crowd out private spending, especially investment, but that is unlikely to be an issue for the next year. It is unfortunate that the crisis will put on hold important economic reforms such as disinvestment, and cleaning up balance sheets of the financial sector and nonfinancial corporations. Certainly, a massive stimulus will allow some scoundrels to benefit, or to escape the consequences of past misdeeds or incompetence. But, that is an unavoidable side effect of avoiding a major economic collapse. Side effects should not distract from what is immediately necessary for preserving the livelihoods of the masses.
Source: Financial Express
The government has started working out the possible post-lockdown scenarios and is considering another booster shot to minimize the impact of coronavirus and revive the economy but nothing has been finalised yet, senior officials said on Sunday. The focus is on issues that may come up after the lockdown is lifted on April 15, an official said. There have been discussions about a package but nothing has been finalised yet, the official said, adding that the idea is to revive consumption, "so some measures might be needed." If a package is announced, it would be the third major initiative by the government to tackle the challenges thrown up by the rapid spread of coronavirus. On March 24, hours before Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared a countrywide lockdown, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a slew of relief measures for taxpayers and businesses. Two days later, Sitharaman announced a Rs 1.7-lakh-crore relief package for those hit hardest. On Sunday, the officials said they are also looking at the possibility of redesigning some welfare and other government schemes to suit the post-lockdown situation. Various options are on the table such as scholarships and fellowships given by ministries, harvesting of rabi crops and the government has started to address them one by one, they said. Out of the 10 empowered groups of senior bureaucrats constituted by the prime minister to prepare India's response to COVID-19, one group is tasked to suggest economic measures. An informal group of ministers, chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, is also looking into various aspects of the lockdown.
Source: Business Standard
The government extended the validity of e-way bills till April 30, that were set to expire between March 20 and April 15, giving a big relief to industry grappling with issues of supplies and goods stuck in transit amid the nationwide lockdown due to Covid 19. “Where an e-way bill has been generated and its period of validity expires during the period 20th day of March, 2020 to 15th day of April, 2020, the validity period of such eway bill shall be deemed to have been extended till the 30th day of April, 2020,” the finance ministry said in a notification Friday. The finance ministry has also deferred the application of 10% restriction for availing input tax credit for February, to August, 2020 and rolling over the cumulative applicability to the month of September, 2020, giving the industry a seven-month window that will ease out cash flows, experts said. “Government has gone all out in of support the industry by deferring the application of 10% credit restriction… This step from government would ease out the cash flows of the entire community of over 12 million taxpayers,” said Rajat Mohan, senior partner at AMRG Associates. The extensions were given via a notification on Friday, which also brought into effect several indirect tax compliance relaxations that were announced by the government earlier this week.
Source: Economic Times
Some of the industries in Tiruppur and Coimbatore, with manufacturing facilities, are getting into production of personal protection gear, either the complete set or in individual products. In Tiruppur, three companies have gone into manufacture of masks and some are doing coveralls. According to Raja Shanmugham, president of Tiruppur Exporters Association, there are a lot of enquiries for masks and coveralls as Tiruppur is a textile hub. “But we need fabric sealing facility for coveralls. Even in the case of masks, so far, we only use dust-preventive masks. We need to use sterilised non-woven fabric for the masks used by healthcare sector as a precaution against COVID-19. Availability of the fabric meeting the approved standards is not much. Many are asking for the masks. But we cannot shift to it easily. We can only stitch masks. We cannot do the moulded ones,” he says. According to the General Manager of Coimbatore District Industries Centre, Karthigaivasan Kachirayar, two companies make coveralls that meet the government standards and one is making coveralls that the healthcare workers can use. One manufacturer is contemplating production of the entire Personal Protective Equipment kit. “We have provided the technical details to the manufacturer,” he said. For masks, three units were already making three-ply masks and two more have got into it. One person has got into face cover. Apart from these, two companies produce ventilators for larger brands. One manufacturer is getting into it and has done three prototypes. One more company has started producing. “There is higher movement of ventilators from here,” he said. A lot of textile manufacturers in States such as Punjab had switched over to protective gear recently. Coimbatore was a major textile centre and the government was talking to the manufacturers to encourage them to get into this segment, he said.
Source: The Hindu
The trade between China and India fell 12.4 per cent year-on-year to USD 12 billion in the first two months amid the coronavirus outbreak, according to the latest data from Chinese customs. From January to February, China's exports to India were 67.1 billion yuan (USD 9.5 billion), down 12.6 per cent on a yearly basis and imports from India dropped 11.6 per cent to 18 billion yuan (USD 2.5 billion), the state-run Global Times reported on Friday. Bilateral trade fell by 12.4 per cent to 85.17 billion yuan (USD 12 billion) in the first two months, the report quoted Chinese Customs data. The lockdowns in both the countries due to Covid-19 is expected to badly affect the bilateral trade which declined by three billion billion dollar last year to USD 92.68 billion from USD 95.7 billion in 2018. The declining trade was largely attributed to the slowdown of the economies of the two countries. The trade deficit for India continued to be high amounting to USD 56.77 billion in 2019. The trade deficit has become a major irritant in India-China bilateral relations, figuring high in the bilateral discourse. India has been demanding China to open up its IT and pharmaceutical sectors to enable it to increase its exports. As China continued to promise to address India's concerns, the two countries discussed initiatives over the issue at various levels last year. As a result of lockdowns, the Indian pharma industry is concerned as India is a big importer of the main raw materials called APIs (Active pharmaceutical ingredients) from China. API shipments have started coming in for pre-manufactured stocks which were lying at ports in China, Lan Jianxue, deputy director of the Department for Asia-Pacific Studies at the China Institute of International Studies, told the Global Times. "This is hampering business sentiment and affecting investment and production schedules of companies in India," he said. Lan noted that sectors like pharmaceuticals, healthcare and non-traditional securities are likely to become new forces to drive cooperation between China and India in the near future. The coronavirus outbreak is slowing down Indian exports to China, Atul Dalakoti, executive director for China at the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) said. China in recent years has emerged as a major market for Indian products like seafood, petrochemicals, gems and jewellery, he said. The Covid-19 outbreak has adversely impacted exports of these items to China, Dalakoti told . The fall of exports could result in losses in the Indian fisheries sector. India also exports 36 per cent of its diamonds to China. The cancellation of four major trade events between February and April could also cause major losses to India's diamond industry, he said.
Source: Economic Times
Indian economy, which was already in slowdown phase for last six quarters, could register the lowest growth in the post-reform period in 2020-21 despite strong monetary and fiscal stimulus measures, an eminent economist said on Friday. N R Bhanumurthy, a Professor at National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, said that with the current lockdown, the state of the Indian economy has aggravated further. "With the current lockdown, the current situation in the Indian economy, which was already in slowdown phase for over six quarters, has actually aggravated further. "Assuming that the situation could improve in a quarter, in 2020-21, the Indian economy could register the lowest growth that was experienced in the post-reform period (since 1991). This is despite strong monetary and fiscal stimulus measures introduced since February 2020," he told in an interview. Multilateral agency ADB expects India's economic growth to slow down to 4 pc in FY2021 due to COVID-19 pandemic. Moody's Investor Service last month also slashed its estimate for India's GDP growth during 2020 calendar year to 2.5 per cent and said that coronavirus outbreak will cause unprecedented shock to the global economy. Asked whether under the current circumstances, India can achieve the target of becoming a USD 5 trillion economy by 2024-25, Bhanumurthy said that some of his studies have shown that achieving this target even in good times was difficult given the slowing economy. "Now that the world is expected to get into a recessionary stage and not sure when there could be some rebound, achieving a USD 5 trillion economy is going to be a distant dream. "Added to that the exchange rate also depreciated sharply," he noted. Bhanumurthy, however, added that based on NIPFP study to 15th Finance Commission," we strongly believe that with some prudent fiscal policies, we can still achieve such big targets. But that also means government (both centre and states) needs to sacrifice a lot, though not sure if politically feasible". On the need for large fiscal stimulus to boost growth, he said given the current conditions, there are fewer options on the policy front other than large fiscal stimulus as well as reprioritizing the government expenditures. "This has to happen even by printing more money. "While the government has come out with a stimulus of Rs 1.7 lakh crore, with other measures that are brought by monetary authorities, the actual (both direct and indirect) stimulus could be much more," Bhanumurthy emphasised. Earlier this year, the Economic Survey had projected India's economic growth at 6 per cent to 6.5 per cent for 2020-21 fiscal year
Source: Economic Times
The goods and services tax network (GSTN), the IT backbone of GST, has enabled more than 1,700 tax officers to work from their homes using a secure virtual private network (VPN) facility amid the lockdown. This has provided officers a secured access to work on various GST applications such as processing of registration application, refund application, audit, assessment, appeal etc. “The GSTN has enabled tax officers of different states and Union Territories (UTs) to access their offices during the lockdown. The company is providing secured access to the office network on request,” GSTN said in a release on Sunday. It has facilitated tax officers to process 20,273 registration-related cases in the first 10 days of lockdown.
Source: Business Standard
KARACHI: Because of lockdown in many countries caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the world is heading towards recession this year. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has already warned about it. Global oil prices have already plummeted to multi-year lows. This is an early sign of the looming recession regardless of the fact that prices began to fall initially due to a Saudi Arabia-Russia row over the extent of reduction in production. Pakistan’s exporters are rightly worried and so is the government. The government has already offered a relief package to them and that, along with the policy rate cut by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), may provide some relief to the exporters.However, many are still worried because selling merchandise at a time of falling demand and countrywide lockdowns in large parts of the world is not an easy job. Just because of full or partial lockdowns in Europe, America, China and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region, any increase in Pakistan’s export earnings has become uncertain. Exporters say they are facing lots of problems in shipments. Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) Senior Vice President Dr Mirza Ikhtiar Baig says, “Buyers in Europe and America have requested us to delay shipments due to decrease in demand for apparel owing to closed markets and shops. “Also, they don’t want to lift even confirm orders which have already been produced. Our inventories are piling up and no exporter can afford to let this continue as it will erode the cash flow.” Exporters say buyers of their products in a number of countries are requesting to defer payments for 90 to 180 days against buying orders which have already been shipped. The reduction in production is another major problem exporters are facing because of unavailability of staff and machine operators due to lockdown in the country. Moreover, mingling of workers cannot be allowed in factories for safety reasons.fore the interest rate cut and the recent unveiling of the economic stimulus package, textile exporters feared 25-50% decline in exports for March and April. Hopefully, they must be more enthusiastic now but given the uncertainty all around, it would still be too optimistic to expect that textile exports from March onwards would not see any decline. Now, the issue is how to avert a massive decline in exports and better still, how to boost them.
Trade gap
Obviously, the exporters need to search for new markets while continuing to cater to traditional markets. It is pretty much possible because of the gap created in global supplies due to the current world trade situation. Pakistan’s export competitors, too, must be finding it difficult to meet export orders, leaving some gaps for Pakistani exporters to fill in. So, there is an opportunity to take advantage of this situation and grab some export orders which are being diverted from countries like China, India, Bangladesh, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam and others. Containing the decline in exports has become a real hard challenge also because cross-border trade with neighbours – India, Iran and Afghanistan – has stopped now. Earlier, Pakistan’s exports to neighbouring countries made up a tiny part of the total shipments. All three markets have a lot of potential in bilateral trade but political rivalry with New Delhi caused suspension of trade with India, which is hurting Pakistan in the absence of a quick and easy land route. Looking towards Iran is also of no use, for the reason that the country is still facing international sanctions and Covid-19 has caused more damage there. Increased influence of China and India in Afghanistan and the ongoing war there reduced Pakistan’s exports to that landlocked country. But the recently signed peace accord between the United States and Afghan Taliban would possibly help improve bilateral trade with Kabul provided Covid-19 threat does not play a big role in both countries. Except for China, Pakistan does not have a sizeable trade relationship with any of its neighbours, resulting in great dependency of exports on it. In the textile sector, Pakistan is highly dependent on imports of Chinese raw material. But those imports slowed down considerably after the outbreak of Covid-19 in China in December last year. However, with proper planning and strategy and with adequate support from the government, textile millers can tackle such kind of hurdles and stave off a decline in exports.
New, old markets
When asked about the steps which the government should take in order to boost overall exports and not just those of textile, former FPCCI president Daroo Khan Achakzai told this writer: “Government should not only waive all export development surcharges but also ensure rapid release of export rebate.”He believes, “We not only have to explore new Central Asian and Middle Eastern markets but also revive activity in old conventional markets like the US, Afghanistan and Europe. We once used to export $2-3 billion worth of goods to Kabul. That has been continuously decreasing for some years, giving market space to other players like China and India. Consequently, our exports to Kabul stand close to a billion dollars. “It’s time to boost exports to Afghanistan, first to $3 billion and then aim at exploiting the full potential of $5 billion.” Fortunately, no other trade partner offers so much economy of trade as Afghanistan does. “It takes just two days for us to dispatch commodities to Afghan markets. Apart from this, since Afghanistan is an underdeveloped country, we can continue to export grains and low value-added products there.”
Source: Tribune
The government has decided to make available the Tk 50 billion coronavirus bailout fund to owners of exporting industries affected by the pandemic as bank loans to help pay their workers. The Bangladesh Bank will release the fund to the commercial banks while the entrepreneurs will apply for the loans by submitting estimates of the money they need to pay wages and allowances of workers and employees. The loans carrying a 2 percent interest rate will be repayable in two years with a grace period of six months. Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal says the interest in reality is the service charge for the banks to distribute and collect repayments. The government will not give the money from the national budget, he told bdnews24.com after a meeting with top officials at his official residence in Dhaka on Wednesday. The finance ministry will issue Tk 50 billion bonds and the central bank will raise a refinancing fund against the bonds, he explained. Bangladesh Bank Governor Fazle Kabir, National Board of Revenue Chairman Abu Hena Md Rahmatul Muneem, Financial Institutions Secretary Md Ashadul Islam, Finance Secretary Abdur Rouf Talukder, and Economic Relations Secretary Fatima Yasmin attended the meeting. They finalised the guidelines for the package that the finance ministry sent to the Bangladesh Bank. Central bank spokesperson Serajul Islam said the guidelines will be issued in a circular on Thursday. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Mar 25 rolled out the economic bailout package with almost all of the funds going to the readymade garment industry that earns $34 billion annually, more than 80 percent of Bangladesh’s total export earnings. Rubana Huq, chief of the apparel exporters’ lobby, told bdnews24.com they have been told in no unclear terms that the fund can be used only for paying wages and allowances to the workers and other employees. After another meeting with the stakeholders at the Secretariat earlier in the day, Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi said the government has made arrangements for the apparel industry entrepreneurs to get loans at 2 percent interest as the sector is the largest exporter of Bangladesh. “There are talks at different levels that the government is donating money to the exporting sectors. It’s not a donation. They will have to repay the loan in time. The details will be sorted out in a day or two,” he added. He noted that the factories that have work to do can remain open but the owners must ensure protection of the workers from the virus. Business leaders also attended the commerce ministry meeting. In July-February period, Bangladesh exported goods worth $26.24 billion, missing the target by 13 percent with a nearly 4.8 percent year-on-year decline. A finance ministry official told bdnews24.com that officials will convene at the Prime Minister’s Office on Thursday to discuss the impact of the pandemic on other sectors than RMG.
Source: BD News
Adviser to Prime Minister for Commerce and Textile, Abdul Razak Dawood on Friday said that the government had offered up to Rs100 billion packages to the industrial sector as a support following current challenging situation, created due to COVID- 19 pandemic. "We are continuously in contact with all major industrial sectors, including textiles and construction. With consultation of all stakeholders, the government would give incentive to the priority areas of industrial sector for revival in current critical situation," Razaq Dawood told APP here on Friday. The government wanted to resolve the liquidity issue of industrial sector, he said adding that Drawback of Local Taxes and Levies (DLTL) payments would be made, which were pending since 2009. The adviser said the government would pay Technology upgradation fund worth Rs30 billion to the industrial sector to help it come out from the current challenge of COVID- 19 Coronavirus pandemic. He informed that total Rs 47 billion would be paid to the textiles sector in coming 100 days to support the major export sector of the country. Replying to a question, he said the government would pay all the refunds including in Rs200 billion packages to compensate the industrial sector in coming Budget 2020-21. He said that this package would be paid at faster pace to the industries, adding that all the stakeholders were on board with the government to evolve joint strategy to resolve all the issues of industrial sector in current situation. He said that promoting industries and giving incentives to the business community was an important step to leading the country forward.The government would support the industrial sector and provide Incentives. The commerce ministry has also prepared a list of industries which could be reopened in the current situation, he said. The adviser said the refund of Rs100 billion for the business community is a part of that process and the government was committed to ensure timely refunds to the business community in this challenging situation. Razak Dawood said that his ministry was in constant contact with the business community to figure out how the challenge posed by the epidemic can be resolved in country's industrial sector. He hoped the government and business community including all industrial was one page, with joint plan of action with consensus of all stake holders "we would overcome on economic challenges after the COVID-19 pandemic Coronavirus. President of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) Mian Anjum Nisar while talking to APP hailed the Rs 100 billion package offered by the government. He said the government would take preventive measures and develop strategy to protect the pace of economic and trade progress and effects of world economic slowdown as apprehended by leading research organization after evolving the situation in COVID-19 pandemic. Mian Anjum Nisar while talking to APP said that the whole world including the potential market of Europe Union (EU) was effected by the coronavirus, which was the second biggest trade destination for Pakistan after the Generalized Schemes of Preferences (GSP-Plus) offered by EU in 2013. In this regard, the government must to go for conducting studies for mitigating the economic changes after Coronavirus. Renowned industrialist from Baluchistan, Ex-President FPCCI, Eng. Daroo Khan welcomed the package announced by the government and said that proper mechanism was required to disburse this package according the needs for different industries. He suggested that the government engage all stakeholder to resolve the current evolving challenge. On the occasion, President Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industries (ICCI) Muhammad Ahmed Waheed said that his chamber was fully engage in consultation with government in current challenging situation. Business community of the twin's city welcomed the Rs100 billion package offered by the government for industrial sector. President, Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industries, Agha Shahab Ahmed Khan appreciated the government efforts for mitigating the current challenge. He said that his chamber and business community from all over the country was committed to support the government in current evolving situation. President, Peshawar Chamber of Commerce and Industry Engr. Maqsood Anwar Pervaiz said that business community of Khyber Puktunkwa (KPK in cooperation with government and stand with the government and lauded Rs 100 billion package announced by the government.
Source: Urdu Point
UKFT is urging the government to provide support for individuals or companies that are not eligible for any of the existing Covid-19 related protection schemes. UKFT has been speaking with companies and individuals throughout the UK fashion and textile industry over the past few weeks and have identified a number of issues, which must be addressed urgently. The association is referring to these companies as the ‘forgotten middle’ and they include the owners and/or founders of small limited companies who derive their income from a limited company but not through PAYE, the self-employed who have not shown any profits and those who were employed after February 28, 2020. UKFT is raising this issue with the government on a daily basis as are the CBI. UKFT is also raising many other issues with the government including; difficulty of accessing coronavirus business support loans; the need for a rates holiday for all businesses; the huge difficulty caused by retailers and brands cancelling orders; the limitations of the Small Business Grant scheme; the need to make the finance from the support schemes available much more quickly; and the need for the government to significantly increase the support available to the industry when the immediate crises has passed, according to a press release by UKFT.
Source: Fibre2Fashion
