Govt may top up stimulus packages: Nath

The government will consider "topping up" the stimulus packages for the industry reeling under the impact of global downturn, Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath said today.

"There are sectors not doing well and we are addressing those sectors by ensuring liquidity...Perhaps another relief package for them which puts them in a level playing field in the global market," Nath told reporters here.

The Commerce Ministry has called a meeting of different commodity specific export promotion councils and the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) to see the impact of the stimulus packages announced earlier by the government in December and January this year. Bearing a revenue loss of Rs 8,000 crore, the government had announced across-the-board excise duty cuts. Besides, sops were extended to exporters along with the Reserve Bank reducing policy interest rates.

When the government unveiled a second package earlier this month, it said there would be no packages this fiscal. However, Nath said his ministry was in touch within the government to see "what more needs to be topped up". For the first eight months of this fiscal, industrial growth has plummeted to 3.9 per cent from 9.2 per cent in the same period last year.