DN&V Correspondent
New Delhi, May 13: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday announced a relief package of Rs 20 lakh crore — or 10% of nominal GDP — to support the economy that has been battered by the pandemic. The details of the package were not made public on the day, but the PM said the package includes schemes already announced, including liquidity measures by the RBI.
Output down: India’s industrial production output fell by a record 16.7% in March, government data released on Tuesday showed. According to the National Statistical Office (NSO) data, the manufacturing sector output fell by 20.6% and infrastructure goods output fell by 18.5% in the month. The nationwide lockdown to arrest the spread of the coronavirus began on March 25.
Unemployment up: The Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) on Tuesday said 27 million youth in the age group of 20-30 years lost their jobs in April in the country. CMIE’s Consumer Pyramids Household Survey shows 20.9 million youngsters in the age group of 20-24 were employed in April, against 34.2 million the year before. Another 14 million jobs were lost in the age group of 25-29 years. Further, 33 million men and women in their 30s lost jobs in April out of which 86% of the job losses were among men, it said.
Confidence down: India’s economy will shrink 0.4% in the fiscal year 2021, a survey by Bloomberg News said. This is a starker projection than other rating agencies and international institutions. Domestic rating agency CRISIL has projected the Indian economy to grow 1.8% in the fiscal year while the International Monetary Fund expects a growth of 1.9% in 2020. Morgan Stanley, however, says India will be stagnant at 0% in 2020.
