NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said the government would unveil a Rs 20 lakh crore package to help nurse the economy back to health and also unleash a new set of reforms focussed on land, labour, liquidity and legal frameworks that would power India’s push for self-reliance.
Addressing the nation a day after he held detailed deliberations with chief ministers and days before Lockdown 3 ends, the PM said the mega package would be announced over the coming days by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman even as he strongly identified the theme of “atmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India)” that he said wouldn’t be a self-absorbed vision but would rather make the country a part of global supply chains — seen as part of the overall strategy to attract foreign companies planning to shift from China.
Modi said the package, which includes measures already announced by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the finance ministry, would be equal to 10% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). The RBI had announced support equal to 3.2% of GDP and the Garib Kalyan Yojana unveiled by Sitharaman on March 26 accounted for 0.8% of GDP.
Full text: PM Modi’s address to nation on Covid-19
The PM’s speech included a promise that new reforms wouldn’t ignore migrant labour and those whose livelihoods had been hit hard by Covid-19 and a call