COVID-19: FM Nirmala Sitharaman announces relief measures for consumers and corporates

Addressing a press conference on Tuesday, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a number of relief measures for consumers and the corporate sector in the wake of the novel coronavirus crisis. The measures included extending the last date to file IT returns and composition returns to June 30, making customs clearance an essential service, relaxing the mandatory requirement of board meetings for a period of 60 days and so forth. Furthermore, she stated that the Centre would unveil a financial relief package very soon. 

Read the measures announced by the government here: 

• The last date for filing March, April, and May 2020 returns and also composition returns is being extended to June 30, 2020. 
• The delayed payment interest rate has been reduced from 12% to 9%. 
• Aadhar-PAN linking date extended to June 30, 2020. 
• Vivad se Vishwas scheme extended until June 30, 2020. No 10 percent additional charge will be incurred on this scheme till June 30, 2020. 
• Sabka Vishwas indirect tax dispute redressal scheme extended to June 30, 2020.  
• No interest, late fee, penalty to be charged for companies that have less than Rs.5 crore turnover. 
• Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code default limit has been increased from Rs.1 lakh to Rs.1 crore 
• The Companies Auditors’ Report Order 2020, which was going to come into force in 2019-20, has been shifted to 2020-21. 
• Possibility of suspending Section 7, 9 and 10 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code at a later stage if the current situation continues beyond six months. 
• A delay of one month will be condoned in the arrival of the consignment of fisheries. Import permits for fisheries expiring in April have been extended by three months. 
• Debit cardholders can withdraw cash from any bank’s ATM free of charge for the next three months. Moreover, there will be no minimum balance requirement. 
• Customs clearance has been designated as an essential service so that importers and exporters are not impacted. 
• The mandatory requirement of holding board meetings has been relaxed by a period of 60 days. If Independent directors have not been able to hold even one meeting, it will not be seen as a violation. 
• Bank charges for digital trade and transactions will be reduced. 

Coronavirus crisis

492 confirmed cases of the novel Coronavirus with 9 deaths have been reported in India. The Centre announced stringent measures to combat the novel Coronavirus crisis. For instance, international flights were barred to land in India from March 22 for a week. On Monday, it was declared that domestic flights would also not be operational from midnight of March 24 until March 31. Currently, a total lockdown has been imposed in 32 states and Union Territories.