Lockdown 2.0 guidelines: Industry backs move, calls for reopening export sectors from Apr 20

India Inc on Wednesday backed the government's move to allow industrial units located in rural areas to function from April 20, and said it will ensure preventive measures for Covid-19 while restarting economic activities. However, the industry called for textiles, garments and automobiles sectors to be permitted to operate from April 20 to meet their export obligations and ensure free movement of goods. "The phased manner of the exit from lockdown is welcome and provides a roadmap for economic restart after May 3. The MHA guidelines are in line with CII suggestions on calibrated exit from lockdown as per spatial and sectoral considerations, while maintaining health and sanitation as well as social distancing protocols. "With this advance guidance, industry would be able to better prepare for restart of economic activities," said CII Director General Chandrajit Banerjee. The chamber said it hopes that in the next phase, some of the key labour-intensive sectors would be permitted to operate in a calibrated manner with full hygiene and sanitation measures being followed. It said the existing export orders and opportunities should be met to retain India's export market share in the post-COVID period. Hence, textiles and garments and automobiles ecosystem including components and maintenance services should be allowed to operate after April 20 to meet their export obligations and well as to ensure free movement of goods, CII stated. "What is required now as a follow up is for those sectors that have not been allowed to open up to look at how we can sustain them in the lockdown period and post the lockdown period," Ficci Secretary General Dilip Chenoy said. "Farming operations in the fields are allowed fully for farmers and farm workers. This would help save the Rabi crop to a significant degree. "However, a major constraint is the non-availability of farm labour who may still be living in camps and other places in the urban areas. If their travel back to the rural destinations is facilitated in an orderly way, farm activities can be significantly augmented," said D K Srivastava, Chief Policy Advisor at EY India. "If implemented well and in a responsible manner, the economic activities can be restored to the extent of 30-40 per cent by our back-of-envelope calculations," Assocham Secretary General Deepak Sood said. "We request the government to allow Apparel Exporting units who export a minimum of 50 per cent of their turnover to operate under these guidelines, as already allowed to SEZs and EOUs in Para 15 of the consolidated revised guidelines," Apparel Export Promotion Council Chairman A Sakthivel said. "The early start of export oriented industries is vital in an economic scenario which appears to be extremely challenging

"India must place itself in a position where it is able to ramp up world class manufacturing in order to take advantage of the inevitable shift from Chinese manufacture; and is able to rely more on manufacturing within India for supply chain across industries. Units in SEZs need to be at the forefront of this," said Deepto Roy, Partner, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co. Manufacturers' Association for Information Technology (MAIT) President Nitin Kunkolienker said, "MAIT had been urging the government to include manufacturing, sales, and servicing of ICT products, including mobile phones in essential services at a time when reliance on such products and services has increased due to the lockdown. We appreciate that the industry's voice was heard and we thank the government on inclusion of the same."   Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts Chairman Ravi Passi said the council has approached the government to provide relief to handicraft units operational in clusters like Moradabad, Saharanpur, Agra, Firozabad, Narsapur, Jaipur and Jodhpur. The government should also consider including them in the guidelines as a large number of artisans and craftpersons are engaged in production of handicraft products of home, lifestyle, fashion, furniture and textiles exclusively for the overseas markets, he said.   Industrial units in rural areas will be allowed to function from April 20 provided they follow social distancing norms while all kinds of public transport will be barred and public places closed till May 3, according to guidelines issued on Wednesday to enforce the second phase of the lockdown.