On 28 June, Union Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, announced another set of economic measures—ostensibly to provide relief to sectors affected by the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.
As has been the trend in the past one year, a large part of these latest economic measures are new loan and credit schemes. The relief package includes reiteration of one budget announcement—Reform-Based Result Linked Power Distribution Scheme. This is a scheme that is supposed to be implemented from 2021-22 to 2025-26, with a total outlay of INR 303,058 crore—of which the central share is INR 97,631 crore. This amount is included in this package. So, this is not an additional amount and cannot be deemed as a stimulus.
Our stressed economy needs direct fiscal stimulus measures | ORF (orfonline.org)