Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday promised more policy interventions to revive the economy, and emphasised that green shoots are visible and the agriculture sector is driving growth.

Indicators such as electricity and fuel consumption, inter and intra-state movement of goods, PMI data and retail financial transactions are witnessing a pick-up, she said.

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, too, had said the Indian economy had started witnessing seeing ‘green shoots’ of recovery and the country remained one of the most open economies in the world. Speaking at the India Ideas Summit, Ms. Sitharaman said the government has announced a stimulus package totalling 10% of the GDP which was having its impact on economic revival.

“All options are open.. .interventions will happen in future,” Ms. Sitharaman said, assuring the industry that the government will not shy away from taking more steps to ensure early revival of the economy.

The Minister further said the ‘agriculture sector is driving the growth.’

MSME loans

The Finance Ministry, on Tuesday, said banks had sanctioned loans worth about ₹1,27,582 crore under the ₹3-lakh crore Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) for the MSME sector impacted by the economic slowdown triggered by COVID-19.

However, disbursements stood at ₹77,613 crore till July 20 under the 100% ECLGS for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).