The stimulus packages of the government have little in the form of central government support to consumers and businesses as the Centre prefers to tread the thin line on fiscal deficit, analysts said.

The packages announced so far to mitigate the economic impact of Covid-19 will dent the fiscal deficit by 0.6 per cent of GDP, or Rs 1.29 lakh crore, in the ongoing financial year, said a report by SBI.

Industrialist Rajiv Bajaj slammed the government measures. In an interview to a web portal, the managing director & CEO of Bajaj Auto, said unlike in the US and Japan, where the government gave money directly to affected people or enterprises, the Indian version is a ghum phirke — roundabout or complicated — stimulus and he had not heard anybody saying “wow” about the measures announced so far.

With the announcement of an economic package focussing on the vulnerable sections of the society on Thursday, the government has so far provided a stimulus totalling Rs 16.45 lakh crore.

This implies that the remaining nearly Rs 3.54 lakh crore of the Rs 20-lakh-crore package announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 12 is yet to be announced.

“All in all, the direct fiscal hit after the announcement of the three packages is only 0.6 per cent of GDP at Rs 1.29 lakh crore. However, support has been provided to the needy by facilitating their access to food and credit,” Bajaj said.

India Ratings & Research has said there is very limited space for fiscal stimulus as the government’s revised market borrowing of Rs 12 lakh crore, is expected to be used largely for meeting revenue shortfall.

According to India Ratings chief economist Devendra Kumar Pant, the enhanced gross borrowings of Rs 12 lakh crore will largely take care of the revenue shortfall, leaving little space for the government for fiscal stimulus.