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Coronavirus: India to enter fourth phase of lockdown as Modi unveils US$270 billion economic relief package
- Modi says fourth phase of lockdown will be ‘completely different’ from the previous three, with new rules based on suggestions from states to be incorporated
- Meanwhile, a huge relief package will keep India self-reliant and globally competitive, he says
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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday announced that the government will spend 20 trillion rupees (US$270 billion), on a coronavirus economic relief package designed to make the world’s second most populous nation more self reliant.
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“The package’s main aim is to build a self-reliant India,” Modi said in a televised speech, adding that it will help the country compete globally.
“This economic package is for India’s self-reliant movement. It is for the cottage-, small- and medium-scale industries,” he said.
The finance minister will give further details of the package – which amounts to the equivalent of nearly 10 per cent of the country’s GDP – over the next day, Modi said.
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India entered its sixth week of a stringent nationwide lockdown on Tuesday, pushing an economy already enfeebled before the pandemic to the brink of collapse.
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