India boosts healthcare spending 135%, opens up insurance market

India boosts healthcare spending 135%, opens up insurance market

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proceeds to parliament to present the annual budget in New Delhi on Monday. Associated Press



Inayat-ur-Rahman, Gulf Today

India boosted healthcare spending by 135% and lifted caps on foreign investment in its vast insurance market on Monday to help revive an economy that suffered its deepest recorded slump as a result of the pandemic.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman projected a fiscal deficit of 6.8% of gross domestic product for 2021/22.

The current year was expected to end with a deficit of 9.5%, she said.

Sitharaman proposed increasing healthcare spending to 2.2 trillion Indian rupees ($30.2 billion) to help improve public health systems and fund a huge vaccination drive to immunise 1.3 billion people.

The planned expenditure of $30.6 billion on health and well-being schemes was more than double the equivalent outlay in the previous budget, although it included $4.8 billion for the country's ambitious COVID-19