Govt must take steps to thwart any attempts of takeover in pharma and insurance sectors: Congress

New Delhi [India], April 14 (ANI): Following Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's remarks on Sunday that the government must protect corporate entities from "foreign interests", the Congress party has demanded the Centre to be careful and instruct SEBI and RBI to take appropriate steps to thwart any takeover attempts being made for pharmaceutical and insurance companies in the country till normalcy returns and economic activity is revived.

"We are concerned about the takeover attempts of many Indian pharmaceutical entities which are making critical medicines that are required by the country, and also the verticals as I have mentioned - injectables, antibiotics. There has to be a policy and India must not allow takeovers until normalcy returns and economic activity is revived. This should also apply to the insurance companies," Deputy Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Anand Sharma, said.

Congress has also put forward a suggestion to the Central government saying it should not worry about fiscal deficit and current account deficit as this is an "extraordinary" economic situation.

Sharma said the government should give more in relief as less than 1 per cent of the GDP has been given to the COVID relief fund, whereas, many countries have given as much as 15 per cent, for example, USA and Spain. He also said that during the 2008 economic crisis, the then UPA government had given 3 per cent of the GDP as a stimulus.

"The government should not care for CAD (current account deficit) and inflation as this is an extraordinary situation and it should give second financial assistance to these sectors," Sharma said.

Commenting upon the condition of economic slowdown, former Congress President Rahul Gandhi had earlier tweeted saying, "The massive economic slowdown has weakened many Indian corporates making them attractive targets for takeovers. The government must not allow foreign interests to take control of any Indian corporate at this time of national crisis.