Free Covid-19 vaccines, food to cost an additional Rs 80,000 cr: Report

The government may not have to tap the bond market for the funds to finance free inoculation.

India will need to spend an additional 800 billion rupees ($11 billion) to provide free vaccines and food to millions of people devastated by the deadly coronavirus wave, people with knowledge of the matter said.
 

The government will earmark an additional 700 billion rupees for providing food to the poor and other eligible groups until November, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the numbers aren’t public. The administration will need an extra 100 billion rupees to provide free vaccinations, they said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi agreed Monday to provide free inoculations, reversing a policy where states