Maharashtra has reported the highest number of COVID-19 cases so far at 124, including three foreign nationals, followed by Kerala, where the number of cases has climbed up to 118, including eight foreign nationals, according to the ministry data.

“The industry has been scrambling to set up its own business continuity plan,” said R. Chandrashekhar, a retired federal government official and a former president of India’s IT services lobby group, NASSCOM.

“The fair value of a quality stock doesn’t change due to a few quarters of earnings downgrades,” said Saibal Ghosh, chief investment officer at Aegon Life Insurance. “At such attractive valuations, this is where we would like to bet our money,” he said.

“We estimate that the cumulative shutdown cost around USD120 billion or 4 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP),” British brokerage Barclays said in a note, revising down its FY21 growth forecast by 1.7 percentage points to 3.5 per cent.

It specified the cost of the three-week nationwide lockdown to be alone at USD 90 billion, which is over and above the lockdowns announced by various states like Maharashtra earlier.

The package, which could be announced by the end of the week, will be used to put money directly into the accounts of more than 100 million poor and to support businesses hit the hardest by the lockdown, the sources said.

Addressing the media about the decisions taken by the Union Cabinet, he said the Centre and the state governments are working together to effectively implement the lockdown and ensure people do not suffer.

“However, it has ensured that aviation will be seriously impacted by COVID-19. The April-June quarter, traditionally one of the stronger quarters of the year for Indian airlines, is increasingly looking like it will be a washout,” the report said.