The Confederation of All-India Traders (CAIT) has asked the government to introduce insurance coverage for disruptions in business due to coronavirus.

“Insurance companies may be mandated to introduce ‘disruptions due to coronavirus’ as an additional cover to fire and materials damage policies, and the existing policyholders may be offered an option to add it to their policies,” said CAIT Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal in a letter to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

CAIT has also sent representations to Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and Minister of State for Commerce Hardeep Puri, asking them to take up the matter with the Finance Ministry, according to statement circulated by the traders’ body.

Khandelwal said that the government has taken precautionary measures to check the spread of virus such as the closing down of educational institutions, cinema halls, gymnasiums and other service-oriented trade – this, he said, is likely to have a negative impact on both trade and the MSME sector. Business will be hit due to disruption in supplies, cancellation of events and contracts, and decline in travel.