#after lockdown

after lockdown.

monday, 04/05/2020,

The reason petrol and diesel prices are rising is because the government revenue from other sources have plummeted due to coronavirus lockdown in recent months so the govt had to raise the excise duty on petrol and diesel.

The oil market has turned the tables in May gaining over 50 per cent from April's prices, hovering over $30 a barrel now and rising.

 If the rising trend continued, oil companies, which absorbed a big increase in excise duty on petrol and diesel early in May, would start making losses on sale of petrol and diesel. The sales volume of auto fuel is already down due to a demand squeeze caused by Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown.

Amid the unemployment crisis, when people are roaming around to get a job, fuel prices have become another problem for them.

The aftermath of the pandemic lockdown is going to bring a lot of tasks for the government. From lifting up the falling economy, saving livelihoods of millions of people to improving better healthcare and providing food and shelter.

During the lockdown the govt has taken several steps in an attempt to reduce the panic of pandemic among the people. One of the major and good decisions taken by the government was putting moratorium on debt payments.

 After the lockdown the government must consider resuming the work on infrastructure development. This will have the immediate effect of creating employment and ensure wages to laborers.

In short run steps towards increasing consumption is important so that anticipating that consumption investment would go up.

 Farmers are in deep distress after the lockdown caused disruptions in the food supply chain, scarcity of labour and resulted in a decline in demand.

It is largely recognised that farming is not a remunerative occupation, which is why the government planned to double farmers’ income in the next two years through various schemes. Finding markets – domestic and global – was central to the plan, but the pandemic has upset the applecart, as the economy has taken a beating and the recovery period is anybody’s guess.

The government has opened a few procurement centres for limited operations but since only limited number of farmers are allowed, it has become tardy progress and long queues for selling their production.

Since the whole world economy has been hit with the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries may avoid importing of goods to help and survive their economy. This means Indian exports are also going to be effected, apart from the supplying of pharma products and other essentials. The government should also focus on increasing exports by several steps like

Simplifying regulation. The government should simplify regulation related to exports; long bureaucracy procedures negatively affect especially new exporters.

Increasing the availability of credit. The availability of short and long-term credit is crucial to exporters. This is decisive for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), for which the credit constraints are more binding than for large firms. 

Currently the government has taken several steps, including tax refund scheme and enhanced credit to exporters, to boost outbound shipments. The Finance Minister has said that  Remission of Duties or Taxes on Export Product (RoDTEP) scheme will replace the existing Merchandise from India Scheme (MEIS), which is considered as non-compliant to global trade rules.

"I am making it plain that RoDTEP, which is now coming in, will more than adequately compensate and incentivise exporters than all the existing schemes put together," she had added.

In comparison with different nations, India appears to have a higher possibility of pulling off with lesser inadvertent blow-back, atleast for the time being.

A few variables may play in or out, over the span of this critical situation and these might end up being good for India to turn into a significant exchange and trade player in the global market.

Since the US, Japan and several other countries have decided to shift their manufacturing units from China, India seems to be the next best alternative.

In 2019, India had reduced it's corporate tax by 25% and for new manufacturing firms it was down to 15%.

Currently more than 300 international companies are interested in setting up their manufacturing units in India.

Also, since India is the only country supplying Hydroxychloroquine, the antimalarial drug to selected foreign countries, the pharmaceutical industry in India can also expect rise in investments in the future.

Eileen and I will be on site & happy to chat with you during Art Crawl, 7-10pm, Centre3 Member's Gallery, 173 James Street North, Hamilton. See you there!

It is the fourth anniversary of my arrival in Hamilton to begin my Arts Council residency here. I write this on the eve of the public opening for After Lockdown/ In the Neighborhood, a joint show with Eileen Earnshaw, most amazing theatre designer and creative wizard, at Centre3 Member’s Gallery on James Street North. We have had some serious fun with these pieces, I must say. Opening is 7 to…