Amid the coronavirus menace which has led to the nationwide lockdown hitting the economy hard, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday held a comprehensive meeting with Home Minister Amit Shah, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and other senior government officials to discuss the steps to attract more foreign investment and boost the economy.

The meeting was held to discuss measures to attract more foreign investment as well as promote local investment to boost the economy amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It was discussed that a scheme should be developed to promote more plug and play infrastructure in the existing industrial lands/plots/estates in the country and provide necessary financing support,” said the statement released by the government.

“During the meeting, the PM directed that the action should be taken for a more proactive approach to handhold the investors, to look into their problems and help them in getting all the necessary Central and State clearances in a time-bound manner,” it added.

“Various strategies to bring investments into India in a fast-track mode and to promote Indian domestic sectors were discussed. Detailed discussions were held on guiding states to evolve their strategies & be more proactive in attracting investments,” it said.

It was also discussed that the reform initiatives undertaken by the various Ministries should continue unabated and the action should be taken in a time-bound manner to remove any obstacles which impede the promotion of investment and industrial growth.

After the meeting, PM Modi tweeted, “Chaired a high-level meeting to discuss ways to boost investment, both international and domestic. Issues relating to India’s reform trajectory were also discussed so that growth can be accelerated.”

The meeting came amidst the prolong lockdown leaving the economy almost crippled. On Tuesday, rating agency Moody forecasted India’s growth to 0.2 per cent which was earlier 2.5 per cent.

India is in the second phase of complete lockdown which will end on May 3. The uncertainty over the extension of lockdown is still not called off as the cases are nowhere near to containment.

However, last week, after a meeting with 13 chief ministers, the government re-started some economic activity in parts of the country least affected by the virus.