Addressing a press conference on Thursday, 12 November, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that quite a few indicators are showing a distinct recovery in the economy, as she went on to announce a stimulus package – ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat 3.0.’
Here are the announcements made by the finance minister during the briefing:
“The RBI predicts a strong likelihood of the Indian economy returning to positive growth in Q3 of 2020-21, ahead by a quarter of the earlier forecast,” she was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
GST collections rose by 10 percent year-on-year in October, bank credit improved by 5.1 percent, and energy consumption growth trend is also higher, she pointed out.
FM Sitharaman announced the creation of ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana’ to “incentivise creation of new employment opportunities during the COVID-19 recovery phase”.
ON REAL ESTATE
“Rs 18,000 crores will be provided over and above the budget estimate which was mentioned in the Budget 2020-21 under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. particularly for the urban areas”, said FM Nirmala Sitharaman, according to ANI.
FM Sitharaman also said: “This extra budgetary resource being provided will help 12 lakh houses to be grounded and 18 lakh houses will get completed as a result.”
The FM also informed that support for Construction and Infrastructure-Performance security on contract will be reduced to 3 percent instead of 5-10 percent.
For primary residential real estate sales, relief on the difference between circle rate and agreement value will be up to 20% vs 10% earlier. We expect clearance of inventories through this step, said FM Nirmala Sitharaman, according to ANI.
ON EMPLOYMENT AND CREDIT
“We are now giving Rs 60,00 Crores of Equity to Debt Platform of NIIF (National Infrastructure and Investment Fund) where private equity participation will also come in,” informed FM Sitharaman. She also said that NIIF itself has invested Rs 2,000 crore.
According to Sitharaman, an additional outlay of Rs 10,000 crore will be provided for PM Garib Kalyan Rozgar Yojana in the current financial year, to boost rural employment.
“Rs 3,000 crores will be released to EXIM Bank for promotion of project exports through Lines of Credit under IDEAS Scheme,” said FM Sitharaman, adding:
“Supported projects cover Railways, power, transmission, road and transport, auto and auto components, sugar projects etc”
FM Sitharaman, according to ANI, also informed that:
FM Sitharaman also informed that the existing Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme of Rs 3 lakh crore has been extended till 31 March 2021.
“It is fully guaranteed and collateral-free”, said FM Sitharaman and informed that MSMEs, individual loans and MUDRA borrowers are eligible
ON COVID VACCINE RESEARCH
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, according to ANI, informed that Rs 900 crore is being given to the Department of Biotechnology for COVID Suraksha Mission for research and development of the Indian COVID vaccine.
RS 65,000 CRORE FOR FERTILISERS
Sitharaman, according to ANI, informed that Rs 65,000 crore will be given in order to ensure adequate availability of fertilisers in the upcoming crop season for farmers.
According to ANI, she also said: “Rs 10,200 crore additional budget outlay will be provided towards Capital and industrial expenditure.”
Her briefing came as the Reserve Bank of India has 'nowcast' that the GDP for the July-September quarter is set to contract 8.6 percent. With this, the Indian economy is estimated to have entered a phase of recession.
In August, the government had reported a 23.9 percent contraction in its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the April-June quarter.
(With inputs from ANI and PTI.)
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