Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth  is expected to rebound strongly in 2021-22 owing to the reform measures undertaken by the government," the budget document said. It pointed out that the government announced under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat mission a special economic and comprehensive package of Rs 20 lakh crore - equivalent to 10 percent of India's GDP – to fight the COVID-19 pandemic in India.

The Indian economy is expected to rebound strongly in 2021-22 owing to the reform measures undertaken by the government, the Union Budget document said on Monday. It further said that the real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth is projected to contract by 7.7 percent in 2020-21 as compared to a growth of 4.2 percent in 2019-20.

"Several structural reforms announced as part of the package, inter alia, include deregulation of the agricultural sector, change in the definition of MSMEs, new PSU policy, commercialization of coal mining, higher FDI limits in defence and space sector," it said.

According to the document, the Indian economy was negatively impacted by an unprecedented health crisis in 2020-21 with the highly contagious coronavirus spreading across the country. It also noted that monetary policy remained accommodative during 2020. The document said that merchandise exports during 2020-21 (April-December) were at USD 200.8 billion, which declined by 15.7 percent over the level of USD 238.3 billion in the corresponding period of the previous year. Bank credit growth was 6.1 percent as on December 18, 2020 as compared to 7.1 percent in the corresponding period of the previous year, it said.

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