Govt open to more measures to boost economy

The govt is available to coming out with more measures to boost the economy, hit second wave of Covid pandemic, says Chief Economic Adviser (CEA) K.V. Subramanian.

He, however, added that the interest for a fresh stimulus package must be considered against the setting of a large group of drives taken by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her Budget for 2021-22 introduced in February.

The CEA was reacting to a suggestion made by some industry bodies that the govt expected to come out with a ₹3 lakh crore stimulus package to support the economy which was severely hit by COVID-19 second wave in April-May.

As per an appraisal by the Reserve Bank of India, the second wave has cost the country about ₹2 lakh crore in terms of output lost.

“Like last year, we do stay open to coming up with more measures also in any case, I think it is really important to consider the huge differences between last year and this year when we talk about stimulus,” he told PTI in a interview.