India's budget plans derailed by 2nd Covid wave. Details here

The budget announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in February raised hopes of sharp economic revival, but the financial plan has been undone by the second wave of Covid-19 in India.

India's annual budget in February was lauded by many and raised hopes it would drive a sharp economic revival, but there are now fears that its promise may fall flat as it did not account for a crippling second wave of COVID-19 infections. The budget aimed to revive Asia's third-largest economy via investing in infrastructure and health care, while relying on an aggressive privatisation strategy and robust tax collections - on the back of projected growth of 10.5% - to fund its spending in the fiscal year. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said India would not see such a budget in "100 years". At the time, a massive COVID-19 vaccination drive and a rebound in consumer demand and investments had put the economy on track to recover from its deepest recorded slump.