New Delhi, June 17

The Indian economy requires a Rs 3 lakh crore fiscal stimulus, including cash transfer to households through Jan Dhan accounts to spur economic growth amid the pandemic, industry body CII said on Thursday and pitched for appointment of a ‘Vaccine Czar’ for speedy vaccination coverage.

CII president TV Narendran also said the chamber expects GDP to grow at 9.5% in 2021-22 as the strong growth in the second half of the fiscal year will be supported by robust external demand and large-scale coverage of vaccination, allowing resumption of economic activity.

The new president said suitable fiscal measures to alleviate the stress of people impacted by the second wave of Covid are the need of the hour.

The Indian economy is a consumption-led economy and the pandemic has impacted the consumer demand and due to this, the chamber has called for measures such as cash transfer as a number of actions are needed to deal with this demand shock, he told reporters.

Narendran also asked for ensuring timely payment to companies, including MSMEs; accelerating public works programmes to ensure implementation of NIP; hiking Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme amount to Rs 5 lakh crore, reduction in excise duty on fuel and inclusion of ATF and other fuel products in GST. — PTI

Measures suggested

• Recommendations include hiked MNREGA allocations from the budgeted amount
• Short-term and focused GST reduction to boost demand
• Time-bound tax relief/interest subvention/stamp duty concession for home buyers
• LTC cash voucher scheme like last year; and extension of Aatmanirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana till March 2022