As news goes from bad to worse, Modi govt scrambles to revive the economy

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said this week she's not closing the door on additional steps to support the economy.

The bad news is getting worse for India’s economy and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is exhausting all options to stem the fallout. Data on Friday will likely show the economy had its weakest performance last quarter in more than six years, with the growth rate dropping below the symbolically important 5% mark. It’s a culmination of several months of downbeat figures, from plunging car sales to shrinking factory output and an export slump.

Having left much of the stimulus burden to the central bank early this year, Modi is now taking bolder steps to reverse the decline. In recent months,