COVID-19: Has govt done enough to revive industry? CARE survey says this

Even as the government has announced a range of relief measures amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, a majority of businesses say that enough has not been done and more support is expected for revival. According to a survey conducted by CARE Ratings, 72 per cent of the respondents said the government should do more for revival of their industry and are pinning hopes on sops such as deferment of statutory dues, credit enhancements or guarantees and even tax subsidies. Only 28 per cent of the participants feel the government has done enough.

On expectations of further support from the government, 84 per cent of the participants said that they expect further support while only 16 per cent don't expect any further assistance.

The multi-sector survey by the ratings agency said that the business activity may not touch pre-COVID-19 levels before March 2021, and there is a need for the government to step in and give a "push" to the economy as it has not done enough till now.

The smaller businesses have reported more stress than the larger ones in the survey of over 600 companies including construction, BFSI, real estate, power, among others.

There has been a pick-up in activity lately but there is a need for standardisation in the unlock process without having the localised lockdowns, the survey participants, which included chief executives, chiefs of finance at companies and investors, said.

Companies in the construction, real estate, manufacturing and power sectors said they are facing problems because of the return of migrant labourers back to their villages, it said.

The small business segment reported more pain because of the migrant labour issue than the larger enterprises, it said with over a third of the former saying the migrant labourers have not returned back to work.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in May, had announced a mega Rs 20 lakh crore stimulus package which included previous measures to save the lockdown-battered economy, and tax breaks for small businesses as well as incentives for domestic manufacturing. The Finance Ministry followed up with various other relief measures over the months.

Also read: New challenges for auto industry in restart phase amid COVID-19 crisis: Tata Motors MD