DPIIT writes to Home Ministry flagging list of industries that need to open soon

Heavy electrical items, steel and ferrous alloy mills, telecom equipment, spinning and ginning mills, are among some of the industries flagged by DPIIT.
DPIIT writes to Home Ministry flagging list of industries that need to open soon
DPIIT writes to Home Ministry flagging list of industries that need to open soon
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The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has reportedly sent a communication to the Ministry of Home Affairs listing the industrial sectors that may be exempted from the lockdown, as per a Business Standard report. The recommendation has been laced with the caveat that this will be subject to the other criteria being employed by the government to extend/relax the lockdown.

Some of the segments identified by DPIIT in its letter are Heavy electrical items, steel and ferrous alloy mills, telecom equipment, spinning and ginning mills, defence and ancillary units, cement, fertilizer, paints and dyes, food and beverage, automotive, plastic and gems and jewellery. It is not clear if the department did some kind of a study to select those industries which already have a lot of automation and the chances of too many employees working in close proximity can be avoided.

The letter says the intention is to restart some kind of economic activity and provide liquidity in the hands of the people.

Even if these industries were allowed to reopen, they may have to operate at 20-25% of their capacity in terms of the employee counts. This may particularly apply to units like textiles and electronics manufacturing.

In addition, the permission may be granted to only those companies that can organize the transportation of their staff with social distance being maintained within and outside the factories. There must be complete arrangements for sanitizing the premises and for serving food etc. to the staff.

With the PM announcing an extension of the present lockdown till May 3 and saying that there may be some relaxation after April 20, it remains to be seen how this pans out.

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