Published 20:59 IST, May 15th 2020
Chidambaram slams Centre's third economic tranche, claims 'fiscal stimulus is zero'
Slamming the Centre's third economic tranche, former Finance minister P Chidambaram, on Friday claimed that FM Sitharaman announcement had no fiscal stimulus.
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Slamming the Centre's third economic tranche, former Finance minister P Chidambaram, on Friday claimed that the announcement had no fiscal stimulus. He also stated that FM Nirmala Sitharaman had denied revealing which parts of the economic package were already part of the Expenditure Budget. Estimating the previous tranche amounting to Rs 5000 crores, he said that most analysts conferred with the same figures.
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Chidambaram: 'No fiscal stimulus'
Centre rolls out 11 agricultural reforms
Earlier in the day, the rolled out its third tranche of economic measures with 11 announcements on Friday. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced 11 measures - of which 8 of them focused on strengthening infrastructure, capacities and building better logistics in Agriculture, Fisheries and animal husbandry, while the rest 3 pertained to governance and administrative reforms. Agricultural reforms included rolling out schemes to finance farming infrastructure, micro food enterprises, fishermen, animal health, dairy infrastructure, herbal cultivation, bee-keeping and food supply chain management. The other three measures included an amendment to the Essential Commodities Act, Central law for Agriculture marketing reforms and e-trading of agriculture produce.
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Previous tranches
On Thursday, the Centre announced nine measures - free food grains, nationalised ration card, affordable rental housing for urban poor - all aimed at India's migrant population. The Centre also extended several schemes for housing, street vendors and housing to provide relief till March 2021. On Wednesday, announced reforms that involved 3 lakh crore collateral-free automatic loans for businesses, Rs. 50,000 crore equity infusion through MSME Fund, redefining 'MSME', disallowing global tenders upto Rs 200 crores, Rs.30,000 crore liquidity facility for NBFCs/HFCs/MFIs, Rs.90,000 crore liquidity injection for DISCOMs among a few.
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PM Modi's Rs 20.lakh crore booster
On Tuesday, PM Modi announced a Rs 20 lakh crore economic package - including the previous monetary package and the liquidity measures announced by RBI till date (amounting to 10.26 lakh crore) to kickstart Indian economy's growth. He has also stated that the lockdown will be extended post-May 18, but will have relaxed restrictions. Currently, India's COVID-19 tally stands at 81970, with 27920 recoveries and 2649 fatalities.
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20:59 IST, May 15th 2020