Nirmala Sitharaman LIVE: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will today address media on economic issues, ahead of the GST Council meeting scheduled later this evening. While the country is reeling under severe stress at the economic front, the government has rolled out a set of stimulus packages aimed at supporting lives and livelihoods since March 2020, when the coronavirus kicked in. India’s fight against the pandemic was more difficult as the country was already carrying a burden of a prolonged slowdown. However, in an effort to keep the economy afloat, the government has been consistently trying to support businesses and industries by carrying out major reforms in various fields such as slashing corporate tax, land reforms, agriculture reforms, etc. Meanwhile, the country’s GDP shrank by 23.9 per cent in the first quarter of the current fiscal year, registering a record low. The pandemic brought industries to a halt and rendered millions of people jobless. While it was expected that the recovery will be quick, the economy still has loads of pessimism over the near-term outlook.

Source : PTI