Modi's big little lies

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7 Big Little Lies Of The Modi Government’s Coronavirus Economic Relief

The Narendra Modi government’s much-touted Aatma Nirbhar, or self-reliance, economic stimulus appears to be a rehashing of previously announced schemes, with very little additional spending, that is unlikely to prop up the faltering national economy, a close read of the package and interviews with economists reveal.

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The Modi government announced a Rs 20 lakh crore stimulus package over five days in May this year to ameliorate the economic devastation caused by India’s punitive and unplanned coronavirus lockdown. At 10% of India’s GDP, the Aatma Nirbhar economic package was billed as one of the largest in the world. Yet, the opposition Congress Party says the stimulus in terms of actual additional government spending could be as little as between 1.6% to 0.91% of the GDP.

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Global Securities research firm Sanford Bernstein, which put the fiscal spending at 0.9% of the GDP, described the economic stimulus as “aimless,” “with several generic announcements which should ideally have been a part of a normal economic agenda.”