The inside story of how the govt's Covid-19 package was worked out

Large-scale reshuffles, pressure from various stakeholders and need to revisit all the budget numbers delayed the response

In the five-part economic package of the central government announced last week by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the decision to allow only domestic companies to bid for government tenders of Rs 200 crore or less came pretty late. Since it sat well with the government plan to promote “local”, it was nevertheless picked up. 

“In the past two months since April, all elements of the package were going up and down between the finance ministry and the PMO. By the time this bit (the decision to go local for small tenders) was finalised, the package was more or less ready,”