NEW DELHI: Fearing a serious supply side crunch if the Covid-19 situation does not ease by mid-April, the government has urgently sought information from industry and departments about requirements from China so that efforts can be made to facilitate imports to the extent possible.Industry has flagged basic drugs, plastics, several chemicals, electronic and telecom equipment as sectors which are facing severe supply constraints.The government is looking at working out logistics such as charter of cargo planes, moving material supplied by Chinese manufacturers to designated ports in that country and figuring out timelines for existing stocks, particularly for API (active pharmaceutical ingredients) and electronics items.Official sources said there is also concern over availability of personnel from Chinese firms who are needed to work on ongoing projects and collaborations in India. The government is considering whether Chinese companies can be requested to move personnel based outside China to India for fulfilling service obligations even as those based here are retained and not repatriated.Discussions in government have centred around how to soften the impact of the Covid-19 shock at a time when economic indicators were showing that the growth dip is just about flattening out and there were signs of a recovery in some parameters such as the purchasing managers index and hiring in top technical and management institutes.The government is assessing if the disruptions will provide the momentum to encourage manufacturing in India so as to lessen the impact of disruptions in China. The possibility of framing policies that seek to create economic zones has been discussed for long, but the current situation could provide an opportunity to get the plans off the drawing board.