"A lot of work has been done in the concerned quarters and these sets of measures in my view would...be directed towards ensuring greater stability in the corporate sector by sharing some of the cost burden especially for the small and medium enterprises," Kumar told news channel CNBC-TV18.
On Thursday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a 1.7-trln-rupee relief package for the poor in first significant step towards mitigating the economic fallout emanating from the 21-day lockdown to curb spread of coronavirus. The package primarily comprised of direct cash transfers and provision of food grain.
Earlier on Friday, the Reserve Bank of India's Monetary Policy Committee lowered the repo rate by a whopping 75 bps coupled with other measures injecting liquidity in the system. Kumar said that the package announced by the central bank was more than expected. In order to control the spread of the novel coronavirus, the government has announced a 21-day nationwide lockdown from the midnight of Mar 25. The total number of coronavirus cases in India has steadily increased to 724 with the virus claiming 17 lives so far.
