In early January, the government said it expects the economy to contract 7.7% in FY 20-21, much less severe than what was expected earlier. Is this too good to be true? In a free-wheeling conversation with the chairperson Odisha Dialogues’ advisory board Dr Pulin Nayak, the former chief statistician of India Dr Pronab Sen says he still believes the contraction could actually be worse than the government’s estimate. Sen explains the unrelenting in the stock market, weigh in on the optimism tied to the $1.9-trillion stimulus package announced by the new presidential administration in the US and suggests a few things that the Indian government could do in the upcoming budget to speed up economic recovery.