Indian PM announces $270 billion virus economic package

NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled Tuesday a $270 billion stimulus package for labourers and small businesses to boost flagging growth as the country grapples with the impact of the coronavirus and weeks-long lockdown.

The package — worth about 10 percent of India’s GDP — came as the country was set to mark its 50th day in the world’s biggest lockdown as the number of virus cases topped 70,000 with 2,200 deaths.

“This economic package is for India’s self-reliant movement. It is for the cottage, small and medium scale industries,” Modi said in a televised address.

The funding includes a $2 billion relief package announced at the start of the lockdown in late March and stimulus efforts by the central bank, Modi said. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman would unveil further details in the next few days, he added.

The government credits its strict shutdown of almost all activity in the country of 1.3 billion people for limiting the number of virus cases and deaths.

The livelihoods of tens of millions of people have been badly hit, particularly the poor and migrant workers, many of whom have lost their jobs. “Day labourers, migrant workers have suffered much in this period. It is our duty now to do something for them,” the prime minister said.

Modi said the next stage of the lockdown, which is due to be lifted on May 18 after being extended twice, will be different in many ways based on suggestions received from states, adding that an announcement would be also made in coming days.

Meanwhile, India’s enormous railway network tentatively ground back to life as a gradual lifting of the world’s biggest coronavirus lockdown gathered pace even as new cases surged.

Restrictions have been steadily eased, however, particularly in rural areas, and some Indian trains – on a network that normally carries more than 20 million passengers a day – resumed on Tuesday.

More than 54,000 tickets for an initial 30 services sold out online within three hours on Monday, reports said. Two trains left New Delhi on Tuesday afternoon with 2,300 people on board while others left different cities including Mumbai.