High-level panel to submit its report to govt. today

Committee was tasked with assessing COVID-19 impact

C. Rangarajan

A high-level committee headed by former Reserve Bank of India Governor C. Rangarajan, which assessed the immediate and medium-term impact of the pandemic on various sectors of the State’s economy, is scheduled to submit its report to the Tamil Nadu government on Monday.

The panel’s head is scheduled to call on the Chief Minister and submit the committee’s report, containing recommendations, to the State government.

Though Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam announced in the Assembly in February that an expert committee would be constituted to recommend measures to improve the tax-GSDP ratio in Tamil Nadu, the COVID-19 scenario eventually changed the plan.

“In the present context, when COVID-19 has posed much more serious economic and fiscal challenges, the expert committee may be requested to examine the fiscal challenges facing Tamil Nadu and the way forward to improve its fiscal position, including the tax-GSDP ratio, as part of its larger brief of suggesting policy measures to improve the economic situation,” a G.O. issued on May 9 by the State had stated.

The terms of reference (TOR) of the committee were to assess the overall, immediate and medium-term impact of COVID-19 on different sectors of Tamil Nadu’s economy, including the impact of the lockdown, additional costs and implications due to physical distancing norms, and other precautionary measures.

The panel was also supposed to assess short and medium-term opportunities and threats, recommend measures to help the important sectors of the economy to overcome the impact of the pandemic and identify specific reforms that need to be taken by the State to support and promote the growth of important sectors of the economy.

Assessing the impact of the crisis on the State government’s fiscal situation and the way forward to improve its fiscal position, while also identifying possible sources of financing and funding for different sectors, including infrastructure projects, small businesses and other enterprises, were also among the panel’s TORs.