“Of the total requirement of vaccines, a sum of Rs 50.90 billion has already been spent for procuring 214 million doses; thus, the remaining amount required to be spent for procuring 1,554 million doses would be Rs 621.03 billion.”
“This is not a big amount as Rs 671.93 billion and works out to be just 0.36 per cent of GDP. If we split it between the Union government and state governments, then the fiscal impact on the union budget would be 0.12 per cent of GDP and on the state budgets would 0.24 per cent of GDP.”
According to Ind-Ra, the maximum impact is likely to be on Bihar followed by Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Manipur, Assam, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha.
“Since the antibodies generated by these vaccines are likely to last for 12-18 months, this expenditure would be a recurring expenditure on Union and state budgets. However, many states such as Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh have already announced that the government will bear the cost of vaccination.”
“Vaccinations by large corporate groups will reduce pressure on state/central budget.” Besides, Ind-Ra said given the magnitude of the problem and the economic cost the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic is likely to inflict on the economy, “it is too small an amount”.
“However, more than the money spent, the critical factor would be how soon the desired level of vaccination can be achieved.” “Therefore, the decision to allow the restricted emergency use of Russian vaccine Sputnik-V and other vaccines approved by the US, EU and WHO is another step in the right direction. This will only accelerate the vaccination effort in the country.”
The first batch of Sputnik V is expected to be delivered to India by April-end, it added.
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