Manmohan Singh offers three remedies to help to restore the country’s financial health

"This economic slowdown is caused by a humanitarian crisis. It is important to view this from the prism of sentiments in our society than mere economic numbers and methods," he explained.

Singh says borrowing is the answer to fund direct cash transfers to help businesses with capital and credit. "Higher borrowing is inevitable even if we have to spend an additional 10% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to cater to the military, health and economic challenges, it must be done."

Prominent economists, including Nobel-prize winning academic Abhijit Banerjee, believe that India should not be afraid to print money to fund welfare benefits. Many countries have already decided to print money to fund government spending. Singh too is not ruling out the need for it, but is of the opinion that it be used as a last resort.

According to Singh, the deep interlinkages that India now has with the world are a cause for concern. "What happens in the global economy will have a significant impact on India's economy,” he said. "In this pandemic, the global economy is severely dented and that will be a big cause of concern for India."