Madhya Pradesh's Micro, Small andMedium Enterprises (MSME) sector and soybean industry welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's special economic package of Rs 20 lakh crore announced on Tuesday to tide over economic slowdown caused by the coronavirus outbreak and the resultant lockdown.Pramod Dafaria, the president of the Association of Industries, which represents about 16,000 small and medium industries in Madhya Pradesh, said the sector was going through a tough phase due to the outbreak."We hope the special economic package presented by the prime minister will prove to be a lifeline for our region. We want the government maintain availability of cash in the MSME sector. The sector should be given relaxation of one year for depositing Goods and Services Tax (GST)," he told PTI.Davish Jain, chairman of Indore-based Soybean Processors Association of India (SOPA), said the package was the need of the hour.Madhya Pradesh is the largest soybean producer in the country."We hope the government will take adequate measures to curb the import of edible oils through this package so that domestic processing industries can be strengthened and we can move forward in becoming self-reliant," he added.
