Tamil Nadu has constituted a high-level committee under the Chairmanship of former Governor of Reserve Bank of India, C Rangarajan, to advise the government on medium term response post Covid lockdown period. Rangarajan, who is presently the Chairman of the Madras School of Economics, had also headed the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council under Manmohan Singh earlier.

State Finance Secretary S Krishnan will be the coordinator of the 24-member committee, which will interact and seek views from industry bodies, trade associations, stakeholders, economic and other experts in India and overseas, says an order by Chief Secretary K Shanmugam.

Panel members

The panel’s members include N Narayanan, former Chief Secretary; A Vellayan, former chairman of Murugappa Group; N Srinivasan, MD, India Cements; Venu Srinivasan, Chairman, TVS Motors; Padmaja Chunduru, MD, Indian Bank; PN Vasudeven, MD and CEO, Equitas Bank; M Suresh Babu of IIT Madras; Pinaki Chakraborty, Co-ordinator, UNICEF, Chennai and senior officials from various State government departments, including finance, industry, agriculture, IT and MSME.

The lockdown - to limit the spread of Covid19 virus - is likely to have medium term impact on the State economy in sectors such as agriculture, industry, tourism, construction and real estate. It is essential to deliberate on and to make recommendations on the policy measures to be undertaken to bring the economy back to the expected growth trajectory and ensure that the needs and requirements of the poor are addressed; supply of essential commodities is maintained undisturbed while limiting the longer term fiscal deterioration, the GO said.

The terms of reference of the newly formed committee include assessing the overall, immediate and medium term impact of the Covid19 pandemic on different sectors; assess the opportunities and threats in the short term and medium term; measures required to help important sectors to overcome the impact and identify specific reform measures to be taken by the State government to support and promote the growth of important sectors.

The committee will also assess the impact of the crisis on the State government’s fiscal situation and way forward to improve the fiscal position, including increasing the tax-GDP ratio and diversifying revenue sources and re-prioritising expenditure.

It will also look at fiscal issues and economy promotion measures the State government should take up with the Centre for necessary action. It will also identify possible sources of financing and funding for different sectors, including infrastructure projects, small businesses and other enterprises.

The committee will submit its final reports to the Government within three months and in the interim submit reports as it deems fit and required by the government, the GO said.

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