Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Monday that the government has not closed the option of another stimulus relief package to soften the devastating blow from the coronavirus pandemic in the country.
“Now we have started to do some kind of assessment on the contraction of GDP, we have some input. We will have to do the assessment, either in parliament or in public,” Sitharaman said at the book launch of NK Singh, president of the 15th Finance Committee.
In May, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the long-awaited stimulus package from ₹20 trillion for businesses and workers to recover from the coronavirus-induced lockdown loss that had brought many businesses to the brink of bankruptcy with revenue and cash flows disappearing overnight.
The New Deal for Aatmanirbhar Bharat, a resilient India, comprises around 10% of India’s domestic product (GDP) and will focus on land, labor, liquidity and laws. It represents almost a full year of India’s gross tax revenue and includes the monetary easing announced by the Reserve Bank of India, Prime Minister Modi said.
Additionally, in a move to boost demand in the economy, the Ministry of Finance recently announced the Travel Concession Cash Voucher Program (LTC) and ₹10,000 festival advances its employees in order to provide more liquidity to clients for discretionary expenses.
Sitharaman had said that employees would be able to buy items that attract 12% or more goods and services tax (GST). These purchases must be made in digital mode at points of sale registered in GST.
The government said the LTC voucher scheme will boost the value of generating demand ₹28,000 crore.
Meanwhile, speaking at Singh’s book launch today, Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries said: “Our relationship with NK Singh is multi-generational. I was introduced as one of the brightest IAS officers in India. He was the champion of reforms. that have actually happened, one of the most modest track masters of India’s economic transformation. “
Today, Sitharaman held a videoconference with the secretaries of the Ministries of Oil and Natural Gas and Coal, together with the president and general directors of 14 Central Public Sector Companies (CPSE) belonging to these ministries, to review the spending of capital (CAPEX). in this exercise.
The Finance Ministry said in a statement: “This was the fourth in the ongoing series of meetings that the Finance Minister is having with various stakeholders to accelerate economic growth in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Reviewing the performance of CPSEs, Sitharaman said that CPSE CAPEX is a critical driver of economic growth and should be scaled up for fiscal years 2020-21 and 2021-22.
Meanwhile, the number of new coronavirus infections reported daily in India fell below 60,000 for the second time this month, while the number of new deaths recorded across the country fell below 600 almost after three months, according to reports. data from the Union Ministry of Health on Monday.
The total number of cases amounted to 75,50,273 and 55,722 infections were reported in one day. The death toll rose to 1,14,610 with 579 deaths recorded over a 24-hour span, the updated data showed at 8 a.m.
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