Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce

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"The Economic Package announced caters to certain sectors but, has displayed utter negligence towards the Travel, Tourism and Hospitality Sector": BCIC , 13th May 2020

Mr. Devesh Agarwal, President, BCIC expressed his views on the Economic Package announcement finale by saying that, "We welcome the Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman announcement of the last tranche of the economic package under the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan announced covering relief measures for rural employment, education, business and healthcare sectors. Especially on the additional fund for the MGNREGA employment scheme, new insolvency measures and technological reforms in the education sector.

BCIC feels that the reforms initiated by the Government would help unshackle business community from regulatory bounds that limit growth and the package could have focused more on near-term relief, perhaps by putting more cash in the hands of the people.

But BCIC is very disappointed since the travel, tourism and hospitality sector remained totally ignored. This sector generates about Rs.17 lakh crores which makes up for 10% of India's GDP and supports 43 lakh jobs. Despite repeated representations by the Chamber and other industry bodies. This sector is one of the ‘worst hit' in the pandemic but, it has been side-lined and has not been considered for any sector-specific bailout by the Government.  With no support from the Government, the Tourism and Hospitality will be now left with no alternative but to retrench people.  

The Prime Minister also strongly emphasized localization (made locally and sold globally). However, other than the defence sector, the drive has not been taken up actively for other sectors. We expect break-through measures to promote “Make in India” including land, labour reforms and ease of doing business.

To conclude our statement, BCIC will continue with its efforts to convince the government to bring forth the much needed reforms in the coming days."