MUMBAI: Back in March when the government ordered a national lockdown at short notice to contain the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, the financial community expected the country to follow in the footsteps of its Western peers in announcing large fiscal measures to cushion the blow.
While the government did announce a series of measures to ease some of the economic pain inflicted by the pandemic, India’s actual fiscal support was grossly low. According to some reports, India’s actual fiscal stimulus as a percentage of the GDP was only 1-2 per cent, considered among the lowest in the world. The stimulus was even lower than some of its less well-to-do emerging market peers.