Coronavirus Update- FM Nirmala Sitharaman Promises To Announce Economic Package Soon

Addressing a press briefing on Tuesday via a video conference, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman promised to announce an economic package for the coronavirus-hit sectors soon.

"Work is going on and we are very close to coming up with an economic package that will be announced sooner rather than later," Nirmala Sitharaman said.

Meanwhile in India, 32 states and UTs have announced a complete lockdown in the entire state/UT covering 560 districts after the total number of positive cases rose to 446 as on March 24. 37 are cured/discharged/migrated cases and 9 deaths have been registered, said the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

In her press briefing, the Finance Minister, announced the extension of the filing of income tax returns for FY19 to June 30. She added that the interest rate for delayed payment has been cut from 12% to 9%.

Along with IT returns, Sitharaman also announced that the last date for March, April, May 2020 GST returns and composition returns have been extended extended to June 30th, 2020.

The FM also said, "Debit card holders who withdraw cash from any bank's ATM can do it free of charge for the next 3 months." Adding to it, she said, "There shall not be any minimum balance requirement fee (in bank accounts)."