MoneyVedam

In response to the coronavirus pandemic, India announced a 21-day lockdown from 24.Mar.2020. Crores of low-income and migrant workers were the first ones to be hit hard by this drastic measure. To provide support to their livelihood during the lockdown period and subsequent recovery period, Finance Minister Smt.Nirmala Sitharaman announced a Rs.1.7 Lac Crore relief package on 26.Mar.2020, the details of which are presented below. The PM Gareeb Kalyan Scheme A. The Pradhan Mantri Gareeb Kalyan Anna Yojana Under this plan, 80 crore poor people in the country will get 5 kg of rice or wheat per month free of cost, in addition to the 5 kg they already get on a monthly basis. Each household will additionally get 1 kg of preferred dal for free for the next three months. B. Cash transfer scheme PM-KISAN Scheme (since 2019) - 8.7 crore farmers will get the first of the three installments of Rs 2,000 front-loaded to their accounts on 1.April.2020. MGNREGA: Wage increased from...

The previous blog gave an idea on the depth of the impact created by covid-19 on jobs and incomes of people. This blog traverses its impact on the macro economic aspects of Indian economy and trade as a whole.  Sectors with lifeline(s) cut-off With several countries announcing lockdown, air travel was the first sector to get impacted by covid-19. Airlines, tourism and hospitality industry took the deepest cut, with some of them facing a threat of bankruptcy in these tragic times. The next wave of sectors that are directly hit by the lockdown are in the manufacturing cluster - capital goods, cement, food products, metals, plastics, rubber & electronics. Not to mention the automobile and auto ancillary sectors which were already reeling under severe stress due to a multi-year downturn in the auto industry. Services sector comprising banking, transport, logistics, retail, real estate, education, entertainment and sports is under lockdown. For the first time in the nation'...