PHD Chamber fully support extended lockdown period till May 3 

New Delhi: PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry welcomes Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi’s decision to extend the lockdown period till 3rd May, 2020. We appeal all our member organisations to fully support the extended lockdown period till 3rd May, 2020 to eradicate the pandemic covid-19 from the country, said Dr D K Aggarwal, President, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, in a press statement issued here today.
 
The seven-point precautionary guidelines announced by Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi are highly appreciable and will have a significant impact to mitigate the spread of pandemic Covid-19 and its complete removal from our country, said Dr. Aggarwal
 
PHD Chamber stand in complete solidarity with the government and is happy to extend a full-fledged support to the government and its countrymen, said Dr Aggarwal.

The Chamber, through its member organisations is committed to enlighten, educate and motivate all citizens of the country to diligently follow the Hon'ble Prime Minister's appeal of '7 batoon mein aapka saath' and extensively use the Aarogya Setu app, to safeguard themselves and their families against the pandemic  Covid- 19, said Dr Aggarwal.
 
We are hopeful that Prime Minister's incentive plan to restart economic activities, after a strict vigilant check by the government and the state authorities, in districts and areas which will show a downfall in the spread and number of Covid -19 patients by 20th April, 2020 , will go a long way in helping the daily wagers, poor and the needy and also boost the morale of trade and  industry, said Dr Aggarwal.

We urge the government to provide an increased stimulus relief package of Rs 16 lakh crore which is  around 7% of GDP sooner than later to mitigate the impact of Pandemic COVID-19 on economy, trade and Industry through various relief measures and benefits, said Dr Aggarwal.
 
The Government has already provided a stimulus of around Rs 2 lakh crore, therefore, our expectation is for the remaining Rs 14 lakh crore, said Dr Aggarwal.

A significant stimulus of 7% of GDP would help the economy to grow at around 5% in the current financial year 2020-21, rejuvenate the businesses and refuel the economic growth trajectory of the country, said Dr Aggarwal.
 
Such reform measures would go a long way to help trade and industry to resume business activity in this extremely difficult time, said Dr Aggarwal.

Increase in government consumption expenditure and capacity building by the business firms would be crucial at this juncture to rejuvenate the economy to its potential growth trajectory of 7-8% in the next few years, said Dr Aggarwal.
 
PHD Chamber eagerly awaits the detailed guidelines to be issued by the government tomorrow and expect that business activity is resumed after 20th April in the areas where there is no impact or least impact of the pandemic coronavirus, said Dr Aggarwal
 
Opening up of economic and business activity in least impacted areas would help many daily wagers to return back on work and help the businesses to resume activities with lot of precautions and safety measures  advised by the government, said Dr Aggarwal