Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman has announced measures of Rs 73,000 crore to stimulate consumer spending in the economy in an effort to fight the slowdown due to COVID-19 pandemic following lockdown. 
While announcing the demand stimulus package, Smt. Sitharaman said, "Indications are that savings of government and organised sector employees have increased and we want to incentivise such people to boost demand for the benefit of the less fortunate." The Finance Minister further said that if demand goes up based on the stimulus measures announced today, it will have an impact on those people who have been affected by COVID-19 and are desperately looking for demand to keep their business going.
The Finance Minister stressed on the idea that today's solution should not cause tomorrow's problem. Smt. Sitharaman said that the Government does not want to burden the common citizen with future inflation and also not put the Government debt on an unsustainable path.
The proposals presented today by the Finance Minister are designed to stimulate spending in a fiscally prudent manner as some of the proposals are for advancing or front-loading of expenditure with offsetting changes later while others are directly linked to increase in GDP. The present announcement by Smt. Sitharaman highlights the active intervention by the Government of India to combat economic slowdown created by COVID-19.
The Finance Minister said that additional budget of Rs. 25,000 crore, in addition to Rs. 4.13 lakh crore given in Union Budget 2020, is being provided for Capital Expenditure on roads, defence, water supply, urban development and domestically produced capital equipment.
To allow smooth conducting of Government business, allocations will be made in forthcoming Revised Estimate discussions of Ministry of Finance with concerned ministries.
It may be recalled that a package of Rs 1.70 lakh crore under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package (PMGKP) was announced on 26th March, 2020 and the Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Package (ANBP), a Special economic and comprehensive package of Rs 20 lakh crore - equivalent to 10% of India's GDP - was announced on 12th May, 2020 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He gave a clarion call for Atmanirbhar Bharat Initiative or Self-Reliant India Movement and also outlined five pillars of Aatmanirbhar Bharat - Economy, Infrastructure, System, Vibrant Demography and Demand.
END