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India Announces $265 Billion Package to Revive Battered Economy

Anjana Pasricha

   NEW DELHI - Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a massive
   package of more than $265 billion to revive an economy battered by a
   seven-week lockdown enforced to contain the coronavirus pandemic.'¯'¯

   The long-awaited stimulus package amounts to about 10 percent of
   India's gross domestic product.'¯

   In a televised address to the nation, the prime minister said the
   country must turn crisis into opportunity and emphasized that the main
   goal of the package is to build a self-reliant India.

   Modi also indicated that India would undertake economic reforms that
   economists and business leaders have long clamored for to attract
   investment and give a boost to industry.

   The announcement came amid a growing chorus for a monetary stimulus to
   ease the deep pain inflicted by the shutdown on an economy that was
   sputtering even before the pandemic.

   Economists say unemployment has reached 24.7 percent as millions of
   jobs have been lost across many fields since the lockdown was enforced
   March 25. Tens of thousands of migrant workers have fled shuttered
   cities amid the widespread losses.

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