'Govt for more stimulus packages'
Updated on
Monday, January 12, 2009, 00:00
IST

New Delhi, Jan 12: Government will consider "topping
up" the stimulus packages for the industry reeling under the
impact of global downturn, Commerce and Industry Minister
Kamal Nath said today.
"There are sectors not doing well and we are addressing
those sectors by ensuring liquidity...perhaps another relief
package for them which puts them in a level playing field in
the global market," Nath told reporters here.
The Commerce Ministry has called a meeting of different
commodity specific export promotion councils and the
Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) to see the
impact of the stimulus packages announced earlier by the
government in December and January this year.
Bearing a revenue loss of Rs 8,000 crore, the government
had announced across-the-board excise duty cuts. Besides, sops
were extended to exporters along with the Reserve Bank
reducing policy interest rates.
When the government unveiled a second package earlier
this month, it said there would be no packages this fiscal.
However, Nath said his ministry was in touch within the
government to see "what more needs to be topped up".
For the first eight months of this fiscal, industrial
growth has plummeted to 3.9 per cent from 9.2 per cent in the
same period last year.
Bureau Report