New Delhi: The extension of nationwide curbs to contain the deadly coronavirus may not see a complete lockdown as Centre is looking forward to resume economic activity in 'calibrated manner', top government sources said on Monday.
Sources told News18 that economic activities will start in the companies or factories will be setup in township-kind-of zones, where workers will be staying in same premises like ordinance factories and BHEL.
A source added that more goods train and cargo plane movement will begin during the second phase. It is also possible that express trains are started instead of local passenger trains, the source further said.
As many as 107 districts of the country are completely unaffected by the deadly coronavirus, sources said, adding that the government is working on a model to ease curbs in the next phase.
In a statement, the ministry of commerce and industry said that after detailed interaction with various states and industry bodies, it feels that "certain more activities with reasonable safeguards should be allowed". The statement further said that it has examined the suggestions and forwarded it to the ministry of home affairs.
The industries ministry has recommended restarting some manufacturing in the autos, textiles, defence, electronics and other sectors.
The ministry said in the letter, addressed to the home ministry, that this could be achieved via reduced shifts with lower staff numbers to ensure social distancing.
"We believe some industries could be allowed with reasonable safeguards as long as social distancing norms are maintained," an official from the industries department said.
All central ministers have already been asked to resume office from Monday (April 13) and put together plans for post-lockdown period to kick-start the economy.
All ministries have also been directed that joint secretary and above rank officers will resume work in respective departments and one-third of the essential staff members in every ministry need to be present.
India's economy, which was already growing at its slowest pace in six years before the onset of the coronavirus, is set to take a severe hit amid the lockdown, say economists, who warn that unemployment could rise to record levels.
The rating agencies, both global and domestic, have also said that the pandemic will be an economic disaster for India. Moody's Investors Service had recently slashed India's economic growth projection for 2020 from 5.3% to 2.5%.
"The governments of India (Baa2 negative) and South Africa (Baa3 negative) have announced 21-day lockdowns. We expect these measures to dampen economic growth in both countries this year. For India, we are now projecting growth rates of 2.5% in 2020 followed by 5.8% next year," Moody's had said in its Global Macro Outlook.
The rating agency said in India, credit flow to the economy already remains severely hampered because of severe liquidity constraints in the bank and non-bank financial sectors.
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