Atma Nirbhar Bharat: PM Modi offers Rs 20 lakh cr economic package ahead of Lockdown 4.0

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday announced an economic relief package of Rs 20 lakh crore — about 10% of India’s GDP — that will cover the land, labour, industry, entrepreneurs, farmers and migrant workers to fight the impact of COVID-19 in a better way and make the lockdown-battered economy self-reliant.

Only Japan, the US and Germany have announced a stimulus bigger than 10% of their GDP.

The details of the package — which includes earlier measures unveiled by the Centre and the Reserve Bank of India — will be revealed by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman from Wednesday onwards.

For latest updates on coronavirus outbreak, click here

"The special economic package would be the main component of 'Atma-Nirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India)'," Modi said in his fifth address to the nation. “Corona will be with us for a long time but our lives cannot revolve around corona…We won’t let our focus stray,” he added.

“It is for migrants and farmers who work for the nation day and night, no matter the circumstances,” the Prime Minister said emphasising on migrant workers, several of whom lost their lives while trying to reach their native places during the lockdown. Some even staged protests demanding transport facility to their homes.

Modi said the package will “focus on land, labour, liquidity and law”. “It will help small business, labourers, farmers, strengthen local markets, production and supply chains,” the prime minister said, adding “it is time to become vocal for local”.

Soon after the announcement, India Inc said the stimulus was far bigger than what they had asked for.

“Everything we asked for can be executed and implemented in this package. It is more than what we asked for,” CII and Ficci said, adding this is the time to dream big for India.

Coronavirus India update: State-wise total number of confirmed cases, deaths on May 12

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman took to Twitter to praise the announcement. “For every section of our society, there is something in the #AatmaNirbharBharat We should make #Local our mantra. Every big product, branded product, were #Local sometimes,” she tweeted.

The Niti Aayog had put forward the proposal for a stimulus equivalent to 10% of the GDP. The incentive came more than a month after the finance minister had announced a Rs 1.76 lakh crore stimulus. The Centre came under attack after the stimulus, which economists and other stakeholders said was too little to tackle the woes of India’s 130 crore people.

Subsequently, the RBI announced a Rs 3.4 lakh crore monetary stimulus. Modi’s Rs 20 lakh crore package will include all of that. The Prime Minister’s address came a day after he held a marathon six-hour meeting with chief ministers, with almost all of them asking for a large financial package. He said self-reliant India will stand on five pillars – Economy, infrastructure, tech-driven system, vibrant demography and demand.