The coronavirus-triggered lockdown has pushed an already-ailing economy into a standstill, hampering businesses and landing thousands jobless.
New Delhi, May 13:
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is addressing the media to share details of the fiscal and monetary measures worth Rs 20 lakh crore announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday, to tackle the impact of coronavirus and weeks of lockdown on the economy. This is the first of a series of press briefings by the Finance Minister in the coming days. The Finance Minister’s address comes at a time when the country remains in a nationwide lockdown with few exceptions to curb the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The coronavirus-triggered lockdown has pushed an already-ailing economy into a standstill, hampering businesses and landing thousands jobless. Economists say details of the package will be watched closely for assessing its effectiveness to aid the economy’s fight against COVID-19.
Here are highlights of what Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said about the government’s Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan package:
- Ministries held detailed talks with industries and PM’s Office on economic package
- The “Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan” initiative to spur growth and help in building self-reliant India
- Plan based on five important pillars: economy, infrastructure, tech-driven systems, demography and demand
- Prime Minister has laid out a comprehensive vision, which is based on wide and deep consultations with several sections of society
- Focus to be on factors of production – land, labour, liquidity and law
- Local brands to be brought to global level
- Focus will be on nurturing local brands as part of this mission
- Global value chain integration part of PM’s plan
- We have capability to build such enterprises
- All schemes rolled out by government since it came to power are driven by reforms
- Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme helped government deliver money directly to Jan Dhan accounts of the poor
- Transfers made to 41 crore Jan Dhan account holders
- Will lay out details of PM’s Vision in coming days
