Finance Ministry to assess impact of Coronavirus outbreak on trade and 'Make in India' scheme

New Delhi: The Finance Ministry will hold a meeting on Tuesday to assess the impact of coronavirus outbreak and any disruptions posed by it to the country’s trade or the ‘Make in India’ initiative. “On the impact of coronavirus outbreak and any disruptions to ‘Make in India’ or to Indian export/import, Finance Ministry is scheduled to hold a meeting on Tuesday, 18 February. Stakeholders welcome. If unable to attend please email your inputs at fmo@nic.in,” Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in a tweet on Sunday.

India is one of China’s leading trade partners in Asia and has a huge trade deficit with the country. The toll from China’s coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic climbed to 1,665 on Saturday after 142 more people died, mostly in the worst-hit Hubei province, and the confirmed cases jumped to 68,500. The outbreak in China provides an opportunity for India to expand exports, Chief Economic Advisor Krishnamurthy Subramanian had said last week.