Initial excitement over India’s $266bn stimulus wanes as details are revealed – The National

Initial excitement over India’s $266bn stimulus wanes as details are revealed – The National

The announcement of India's $266 billion (Dh976.9bn) economic stimulus package initially prompted euphoria among investors and businesses.. "While the announcement of the 20 trillion rupee stimulus scheme enthused the corporate sector and financial markets, the actual [details] are moving sentiment in the opposite direction," says Sujan Hajra, the chief economist at Anand Rathi, a financial services company based in Mumbai.. At $266bn, India's economic package is one of the world's largest and is equivalent to about 10 per cent of its GDP.. The Indian economy was already slowing down before the coronavirus outbreak struck.. Steps that have been announced so far include collateral-free loans for small and medium-sized companies and liquidity for sectors including power distribution.. Measures to help the poor include free grains for migrant workers.. There are still further details awaited on more tranches for the allocation of funds.. "While many of the measures offer humanitarian relief and are welcome, we await details on the reflation package, a spending push aimed at boosting aggregate demand," says Kapil Gupta, an economist at Edelweiss, a financial services company headquartered in Mumbai.. " including certain ongoing and longer-term measures in the emergency stimulus package is confusing," he adds.. India's lockdown began