Govt may announce fiscal measures to push demand once uncertainty related to COVID-19 wanes: CEA

23 Jul 2020 Evaluate

Pointing out that counter cyclical policy is important, Chief Economic Adviser (CEA) K V Subramanian has said that the government may announce more fiscal measures to boost demand once the uncertainty related to Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic wanes. He also said ‘the government is willing to do what is necessary in terms of government consumption but timing of this is extremely important...Till we have uncertainty, even if people have money in their pockets, they may decide to keep it in their bank.’

CEA said people are saving rather than spending due to uncertainty and added that even Jan Dhan account holders whose marginal propensity to consume is very high are indulging in saving. He said the right point would be if vaccines come and thereby uncertainty goes down. I think the time would be very right for the fiscal push which will really generate demand even for discretionary items.’ He noted that demand is important, countercyclical policy is important but the timing is also as important to ensure value for money spent.

Pointing out that the banking sector is holding back growth in a significant manner, Subramanian said India lags behind in global size which has affected investment. Thus, he said there are problems of scale and quality of lending and the banking sector in India has been also lagging in terms of technology adaptation like data analytics.

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