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COVID-19 | The economic package must pro-mote jobs in Modi govt’s stimulus package won’t stop GDP from
rural sector contracting in FY21, say BofA-Nomura analysts

The long-awaited economic package to get
the Indian economy back on track was The government’s reform moves and
finally announced by Prime Minister stimulus package will only help the deeply-
Narendra Modi on May 12. Faced with the impacted growth process in the medium
prospects of the worst economic downturn term of over three years and will not push
ever, it was imperative for the government up the GDP in the short term, analysts at
to provide the stimulus for shoring up the two foreign brokerages said on Monday.
economy.The Prime Minister sought to The analysts at Bank of America (BofA)
meet such expectations by making two sets and Nomura maintained their earlier GDP
of announcements: first, by setting the estimates suggesting a contraction of 0.1
objective of a ‘self-reliant’ India, the per cent and 5 per cent, respectively, for
contours of which are yet to be defined; FY21 even after the announcement of the
and, second, by announcing a Rs 20 lakh-crore package, which is about 10 Rs 20 lakh crore economic package.
percent of India’s GDP. This package is roughly the size of the initial economic
stimulus provided by the United States, which was followed up by a similar Prime Minister Narendra Modi had last week announced a stimulus of up to Rs
package provided by the Federal Reserve. 20 lakh crore or 10 per cent of GDP, with a view to help arrest the slide in growth
The Prime Minister mentioned in his speech that the decisions of the Reserve because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bank of India (RBI) since the COVID-19 outbreak would also be regarded as Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the specifics of the package in
economic announcements of the government. In this period, the RBI had taken a series of press conference ending Sunday.
four decisions, Rs 6.9 lakh-crore absorbed under reverse repo operations in
April, and three other operations, namely, Targeted Long-Term Operations, ”In the near term, GDP will likely contract by 12 per cent in the June quarter, and
Refinancing Facilities for All India Financial Institutions, and Liquidity Lifeline by 0.1 per cent in FY21,” they added.
for Mutual, each of which was Rs 50,000 crores each. In late March, Finance
Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced Rs 1.7 lakh-crore relief package Maintaining its 5 per cent contraction estimate, Nomura said the government
under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana for the poor. Finally, the has aimed for ?maximum bang for minimum buck? as most of the relief is either
government enabled itself last week by borrowing Rs. 4.2 lakh-crore, which was regulatory in nature or reflected in its contingent liabilities, rather than explicit
in addition to the Rs. 7.8 lakh-crore provided in the Union Budget of 2020-21. budgetary support.
However, all of the above measures add up to only about Rs 14.3 lakh-crore.

SOURCE@MONEYCONTROL SOURCE@FINANCIALEXPRESS

Cyclone Amphan will reach near Kolkata by the evening of Drivers of DTC, cluster buses instructed not to drive with
wed,20 May 2020 over 20 passengers on board

Super Cyclone Amphan has begun
making landfall near the Sunderbans in
West Bengal and will reach near
Kolkata by Wednesday , 20 May 2020,
said IMD in a presser. The cyclone has
already triggered heavy rains in
coastal Odisha and West Bengal.
NDRF Director General S N Pradhan,
commenting on the developments said
the situation related to cyclone,
which has started landfall, is fast
transforming and a close watch is being
kept. "The situation is fast-transforming.
Our duty becomes even more now and after the cyclone. It is a long haul," he The Delhi government has directed the drivers of public transport buses
said, adding that the NDRF is keeping a close watch on cyclone Amphan. not to drive if the number of passengers is above 20 and call the police if
The weather body also said the landfall process of extremely severe cyclone the extra persons do not deboard. Delhi Transport minister Kailash
'Amphan' had commenced at 2.30 Gahlot said if the extra passengers do not deboard after a request from the
pm and would continue for four hours.
'Amphan' is likely to make a landfall somewhere between Digha and Hatiya conductor, driver or marshal, then they will dial 100 to call the
islands in Bangladesh close to the Sunderbans. The cyclone has already triggered police.According to the relaxations announced by the Centre during the
heavy rains in coastal Odisha and West Bengal, uprooting trees and forcing extended lockdown, Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) and cluster
evacuation of over four lakh. buses cannot carry more than 20 PASSENGERS.
As of 1pm, the super cyclone was lying 150km east-northeast of Paradip; 95km Gahlot said stringent action will be taken against the conductors, drivers
south-southeast of Digha, 90km nearly south of Sagar island and 260km west- and marshals if more than 20 people are found travelling in the buses.
southwest of Khepupara in Bangladesh, the IMD said. "The Delhi government is very serious about maintaining social distancing
Bhadrak and Balasore will continue to have damaging impact for 2-3 more in buses and the drivers, conductors and marshals have been strictly
hours. instructed not to have more than 20 passengers in a bus," he said.
After this Odisha will not have any damaging impact, emphasised IMD Chief.

SOURCE@ECONOMICTIMES SOURCE@INDIATODAY