CII Seeks To Include Additional 1% Under CSR For Booster Dose Vaccination In Budget

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has requested that the Government should encourage industry to deploy CSR funding towards providing precautionary shots to the community. The industry is ready to contribute an additional 1% under the CSR norms to the national vaccination mission, apart from the mandated 2%, and this can be part of the Budget for a period of 12 months only. Besides, ahead of Union Budget 2022-23, CII has urged state governments to lift restrictions on economic activity, given that the occupancy rate of hospital beds due to the Omicron variant of Covid is well within the manageable level. The Budget, coming during the third wave of the pandemic, is expected to focus on measures for strengthening economic recovery. CII has also requested for fast-tracking of imports of all international approved mRNA and protein based vaccines at a price to be determined by the Government. This would open up booster shots to all sections of society. With bounceback in demand, the economy is expected to achieve 9.2% growth rate over 2021-22. However, this pace must continue for full recovery and faster growth in the medium term and to ensure that workers and small enterprises do not suffer. While vaccinations have helped in dampening the impact of Omicron on the lives of people, the present conditions are conducive to opening up the economy completely while keeping large social gatherings to a minimum, CII President noted.

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