NEW DELHI, Oct 12 (Reuters) – India’s finance minister on Monday announced steps to stimulate consumer demand including advance payment of a part of the wages of federal government employees for spending during the festival season, part of efforts to bolster the pandemic-hit economy.
The government will also allow its employees to spend travel allowances that are an income-tax-exempt part of their salaries on goods and services, Nirmala Sitharaman told a news briefing.
“This is expected to create a consumer demand of about 280 billion rupees ($3.83 billion),” she said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, which imposed a tough lockdown to stem the spread of the coronavirus in March, is pushing ahead with a full opening to try to boost the economy ahead of the usually high-spending festival season.
($1 = 73.1541 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Aftab Ahmed and Manoj Kumar; Editing by Catherine Evans)
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