Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: CII has released a 20-point plan to help shield Indian companies grappling with the impact of the West Asia crisis, including tax and duty rejig for energy inputs, customs waiver for LNG, and long-term capital gains tax exemption for primary market investment to boost foreign capital inflows.Drawing upon the Covid-era toolkit, the industry body has demanded a credit line scheme guaranteed by govt, a three month loan moratorium and a special refinance window for MSMEs and other sectors that have been hit hard.“India’s experience during previous crises has shown that coordinated fiscal and monetary action can significantly strengthen resilience. The next phase of policy response may therefore need to focus on targeted liquidity support, credit facilitation, trade cost management and foreign exchange stability,” CII director general Chandrajit Banerjee said.The industry chamber has also urged the finance ministry and RBI to extend delivery timelines for PSU contracts by three four months, without invoking Liquidated Damages clauses, reduce performance guarantee and security deposit. Besides, CII wants the Trade Receivables Discounting System (TReDS) platform to be expanded across affected industrial clusters to facilitate invoice discounting, along with fast-tracking pending GST refunds, duty drawback claims and RoDTEP dues.Further, it wants govt to introduce accelerated depreciation benefits on capital goods and a special forex swap window for oil and gas PSUs to meet their requirements.Going forward, CII proposed a standing Economic Shock Response Framework with preagreed triggers.
