Last month, in March, Finance Minister Sitharaman had announced a massive Rs. 1.7 Lakh Crore worth of fiscal stimulus to boost the rapidly plummeting Indian economy. Dubbed the Prime Minister Gareeb Kalyan Scheme, this comprehensive program was aimed at relief for the struggling Indian families and stimulus for corporate sectors. Now, our government is giving it the final touches to make sure it reaches the ones who need it. Our PM even went as far as to to seek crowdfunding to bolster this stimulus package.
On April 14th, PM Modi, In a nation-wide televised address, announced that the lock-down which had started from March 22nd, will be extended to 3rd of May. Thus, businesses, both small-scale and large, are finding it even more challenging, to pay bills and salaries, while making a fraction of the usual revenue, at best. This has increased the demand for an urgent national stimulus, ten-fold. Our PM, recognizing the heavy blow that coronavirus and the subsequent lock-down has dealt to the economy, asked businesses to take care of their employees.
PM Modi spent hours, discussing the nuances of this proposed stimulus with FM Sitharaman and her team, on Thursday,. This was followed by dialogues with ministries and state administrations alongside various industry sectors and their prominent stake-holders. Their primary intention was to work out the kinks in the system. Our government is of the view that addressing the hardships of the needy and migrant labours who are most affected by shops, closing up, should be the priority while they are given the time to assess the economic repercussions. This objective is, now, nearing its completion.
Recently, SBI has projected the GDP growth of India, for this fiscal year, at 1.1%. Leading global financial institutions like, Barclays have agreed, with projections down to 0%, at worst. World Bank forecasted growth at 6% for FY20 while agencies like Goldman Sachs and IMF is pegging it at 1.5% to 2%.