The Wadia group, which, owns low-cost airline GoAir also drew comparison with other western economies which have provided financial assistance to their airlines for payment of salary and restructuring their operations.

The government can issue recapitalisation bonds, or the RBI's huge reserves of over $127 can also be dipped into to help the state-owned bank's recapitalisation needs.

The Union government will gain close to Rs 1.6 lakh crore in additional revenues this fiscal from a record hike in excise duty on petrol and diesel that has pushed the total incidence of taxation on auto fuels to 70 per cent of the price. Late on Tuesday evening, the government hiked excise duty on petrol by Rs 10 per litre and that on diesel by Rs 13 a litre to mop up gains arising from international oil prices falling to a two-decade low.

'I have no problems with the finance ministry or with state governments treating petrol pump prices as the last resort for meeting their ambitious spending targets with very limited revenue resources.' 'But let's do away with this smokescreen of free pricing of petrol and diesel and go back to administered pricing regime,' says Dr Sudhir Bisht.

'This prime minister thinks he knows everything.' 'He has to consult, he has to talk and he has to mobilise the best people, but having seen him function, I have no expectations from him.'

'This prime minister thinks he knows everything.'

Private hospitals say the order in its current form will result in losses and would also affect the salaries of healthcare workers.The reduction in prices for private healthcare providers comes at a time when they are dealing with lower hospital occupancy rates, as patients opt to postpone planned medical procedures due to the pandemic