FM gives reforms pill for ailing economy with privatisation, policy tweaks

Continuing with back-to-back announcements, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday rolled out a series of measures as part of the Rs 20-trillion stimulus package to help businesses cope with the lockdown stress, though many of these were important long-term reform steps put together as a Covid deal.

In the latest announcement, the government’s focus was on structural reform in sectors such as coal, minerals, aviation, defence, aerospace, power, and social infrastructure. This included an increase in the foreign direct investment limit in defence production to 74 per cent from 49 per cent, disallowing imports of certain military equipment and