Amid an economic slowdown exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic and the consequent lockdown, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced measures to boost demand and give a fillip to consumer spending. The two-pronged approach on consumer spending involves usage of leave travel allowance given to government employees for purchase of goods, and the revival of the special festival advance scheme for them. The additional generation of consumer spending is estimated to be around Rs 36,000 crore. Sitharaman said that this was a conservative estimate. In the initial months of the pandemic, the Union government had announced schemes aimed at the supply side, but now the focus has shifted to the demand dimension. Watch the full video for more.
