'The belief that FDI will shift from China appears to be a strategy of politicians to keep the media busy, chasing irrelevant news to ward off pressure and questions about the government's plans to deal with COVID,' observes Debashis Basu.

'In times of recovery, we may see a rural-urban divide with the urban pockets affected more by COVID-19, but the MFI business model should encourage banks to handhold them in this hour of crisis,' notes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.

The government has withdrawn its order directing companies and commercial units to pay full wages to workers even when they are not in operation during the COVID-19-induced nationwide lockdown, which began on March 25. The government's move is expected to bring relief to a large number of industries and companies which were unable to pay full wages to their employees.

Some sectors like aviation, hospitality, travel and tourism, and automobile have witnessed zero cash flow since the lockdown began.

To minise wasteful administrative costs, number of enterprises in strategic sectors will ordinarily be only one to four; others will be privatised/merged/brought under holding companies, she said.

Sitharaman also announced Rs 10,000 crore fund to support 2 lakh micro food enterprises for promoting health and wellness, herbal, organic and nutritional products.

Krishnamurthy Subramanian listed land, labour, law, and liquidity as the key areas of big reforms.

The BJP hailed teh package, saying it reflected the government's commitment towards creating jobs and stimulating the economy.

Of the Rs 20-lakh-crore package that Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced to defend the economy against coronavirus disruptions, fresh support may be only around 60 per cent of the offer as it counts the first financial stimulus and liquidity support that Reserve Bank has given already, and will overburden the bond market, says a report.

'COVID-19 is just an excuse to pass anti-labour laws.'

The Rs 20 lakh crore package includes Rs 1.7 lakh crore package of free foodgrains to the poor and cash to poor women and elderly, announced in March, as well as the Reserve Bank's liquidity measures and interest rate cuts.

There could be multiple measures announced in quick succession, not only by the finance minister but also other ministers regarding their respective sectors, and by the Reserve Bank of India. The total size of these announcements could rival that of other G-20 nations as a percentage of GDP.

'There was already a cash crunch and this (lockdown) has created more trouble.'

Modi said the biggest challenge would be to ensure that the disease does not spread to villages across the country after relaxations provided by the government.

This upgrade will allow air operations by military and civil aircraft even in poor visibility and adverse weather conditions.

Thackeray said he was in constant touch with the Centre over the issue of running more trains to ferry migrant labourers, stranded due to the coronavirus-enforced lockdown, to their native places.

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said opening of transport and highways will go a long way in instilling confidence among the public and cautioned towards maintaining social distance and adopting all safety measures like hand wash, sanitizing, face masks, etc while operating buses and cars.

The senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader had made the allegation in a tweet on Sunday wherein he had also launched a veiled attack on a sitting Congress MLA, who had shot off a letter to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, seeking return of Rs 50 lakh released from his local area development fund.

Apart from this, employers may be allowed to deduct EPF contributions only on the basic pay of up to Rs 15,000, even if the employees' basic pay is above this ceiling. While on one hand this will allow companies to lower their wage bills, employees can also get a higher salary in hand.

China's National Health Commission on Thursday said the country reported only four new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, taking the total number to 82,862, while no death due to the disease was registered. The virus has claimed 4,633 lives in the country.

The state has decided that from Monday it will allow the plying of private buses along with the opening of electronics, stationery, tea stalls, and paint and hardware stores, reports Avishek Rakshit

The beneficiaries of the second set of announcements are expected to be micro, small, and medium enterprises, farmers, women, poor, migrant workers, and other marginalised sections of the society, reports Arup Roychoudhury.

'There are a lot of companies that have been struggling really hard expecting to do better year after year.' 'All these people will think now, "Let me not fight any more. Let me end this".'

The CPCB said reduction in PM10 and PM2.5 levels primarily indicate depletion in combustion and industrial sources of pollution which are common to both fractions of particulate matter.

Officers across departments and ministries have been asked to speak to people across sectors for 'SWOT' analysis of issues for revival of the economy.

The disruptions caused by COVID-19 have more severely impacted small and mid-sized corporates, including NBFCs and MFIs, in terms of access to liquidity.

The stimulus package is expected anytime this week and will be aimed at the urban and rural poor; disadvantaged sections of society; MSMEs and some of the worst-affected sectors.

Addressing a press conference on measures taken during 21-days lockdown imposed from March 25 to contain the spread of Covid-19, MHA joint secretary Punya Salila Srivastva said the situation of essential goods and services is under control. To strengthen this situation, the home ministry has written to state governments that both inter-state and intra-state movement of trucks and goods carriers should be allowed during the 21-day countrywide lockdown announced by the central government irrespective of the cargo being essential or non-essential.

The labour ministry has made public a list of 60 officers -- essentially labour commissioners in 20 regions across the country -- along with their e-mail address and contact numbers. They will deal with distress calls from workers who are working under the 'central sphere'.