Next round of Covid stimulus: Where can the Centre intervene fiscally?

In meetings over the past two weeks in the PMO, advisors and bureaucrats are learnt to have given their views on what shape and form the next set of stimulus announcements should take

It is now increasingly becoming clear that sometime in the second half of the year, the Narendra Modi government may come up with a second set of stimulus announcements to help the economy recover from the debilitating impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Aatmanirbhar Bharat package, announced over five days in mid-May, mostly addressed supply side constraints and focused on liquidity and credit measures, with the onus on the already stretched banking system.

Officials have hinted, in public and informally, that the next step of announcements will be more focused on the demand side, and will be in the nature of fiscal