What are the key features of the Atma Nirbhar 3.0 stimulus announced by the finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman on 12 November?

It was just a day after the Bihar victory that the government laid out an elaborate Stimulus 3.0 package worth Rs.265,000 crore. This is third such stimulus package announced post COVID. This is expected to add up to 0.6% to the overall fiscal deficit as percentage of GDP.

This will take the fiscal deficit at the central level closer to 10.5% of GDP as against the budgeted target of 3.5%. However, this was announced as it was essential to give another boost to the economy at a time when the first signs of recovery are visible.

Nirmala Sitharaman, the finance minister, announced 12 new measures to stimulate the economy. Economists are of the view that if the impact of the product linked incentives or PLIs are excluded, the total fiscal impact would only be around Rs.120,000 crore.

That is not too far off the mark because the markets were expecting a stimulus package of around Rs.150,000 crore. It is another solid attempt to boost the fortunes of the economy and is timed to coincide with a new dispensation in the US also.

The broad contours include additional outlays to PMAY or the Prime Minister Awas Yojana, R&D for COVID Vaccine, export stimulus, fertilizer subsidy, employment program and Garib Kalyan programs; apart from an elaborate PLI scheme already laid out.