Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who has received many requests from traders, companies and others for relaxation in deadlines, will hold a Press conference on Tuesday at 2 pm. In a tweet announcing the timing of her briefing via video conference, Nirmala Sitharaman said she would make some announcements about statutory and regulatory compliance matters in context of the Covid-19 pandemic.
COVID-19 cases in India have increased to 492 as much of the country is locked down to check the spread of the coronavirus disease that has claimed more than 14,500 lives globally.
In her tweet, Sitharaman also underlined that the government was working on an economic package on priority “to help us through the Corona lockdown” that has impacted economic activity in the country. But this would take a bit more time to be finalised.
The government has already extended the deadlines for filing returns of goods and services tax (GST) in view of the coronavirus crisis. Sitharaman has also allowed companies to deploy their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds to fight the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, tapping a potential Rs 30,000 crore in funding.
But there have been demands that the government relax deadlines for income tax payments and and relax the mandatory filing norms that would coincide with the ending of the financial year next week.
Traders have also sought ‘coronavirus’ cash loans at a reduced rate to merchants to keep the supply chain running smoothly across the country.
The labour ministry on the other hand, has asked states and union territories to dip into the Rs 52,000 crore cess fund available with them to transfer money into bank accounts of 3.5 crore construction workers registered with the construction welfare boards.
