Praise of Indian Industry for its extreme forbearance, patience and perseverance

Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman praised the Indian Industry for its extreme forbearance, patience and perseverance, and described it with Japanese word ‘Gamanzuyoi’. The Finance Minister was addressing more than 150 senior industry captains in a virtual interaction organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here. Smt. Sitharaman stressed on the need for adopting micro containment strategy in dealing with the 2nd surge of the pandemic and acknowledged that the deliberations with CII had helped shaped this strategy. Explaining the rationale, the Finance Minister said that unlike last time we now have important tools such as vaccines and medicines, to deal with the pandemic. On meeting the phenomenal increase in demand for medical oxygen, a critical treatment tool for Corona, the Finance Minister made sure seamless supply to states. Measures that the government is taking include importing medical oxygen, round the clock working of the oxygen filling stations and allowing containers used for nitrogen and argon to be used for oxygen, the Finance Minister added. The Finance Minister also gave details of Government measures to help ramp up capacity of Remdesivir from 36 lakh vials per month to 78 lakh vials per month. Some of these measures include rapid clearances for new capacities, stopping exports, stopping the exports of APIs and formulations used in the manufacture of this life saving drug, and allowing EoUs and manufacturers located in SEZs to also sell in the domestic market, She said. During the interaction, CII members manufacturing Remdesivir apprised the Finance Minister that they were in fact working towards exceeding the committed target of 78 lakh vials per month and aiming to reach a production of 1 crore vials per month. Elaborating on the recent announcements on the vaccination, the Finance Minister said that the CII’s suggestions on opening up of the vaccination to all adults, allowing industry to vaccinate its employees and their families and allowing vaccine imports have all been accepted in the policy. The Government has also cleared an advance payment of Rs 4,600 crore to Serum Institute of India and Bharat Bio Tech, to help them ramp up capacities. Welcoming the CII suggestions on mitigating the impact to the economy to save livelihoods, alongside lives, the Finance Minister assured an examination of the same.