Nirmala Sitharaman Press Conference: The Finance Ministry has announced a loan guarantee scheme of Rs 1.1 lakh crore for the sectors affected by covid-19.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has made a total of 8 announcements on growth including health infrastructure,
providing loans to businessmen and common people, increasing exports and employment.
COVID-19 Stimulus Package: In order to speed up the economic recovery of the country and strengthen the health infrastructure amid the Corona epidemic,
the government has announced a big economic package on Monday.
The Finance Minister has said that in the announcement of this relief package,
work will be done on the expansion of health infrastructure in small cities.
These do not include the top 8 metropolitan cities. Along with this, 1.5 lakh crore additional benefits have also been announced under ECLGS.
Under this, earlier there was a limit of Rs 3 lakh crore.
On Monday, the government has announced a total package of Rs 6.28 lakh crore.
Epidemic relief
The Finance Ministry has announced a loan guarantee scheme of Rs 1.1 lakh crore for the sectors affected by covid-19.
Along with this, help of 50 thousand crore rupees will be given on the health sector. Sitharaman said that the scheme of spending on health infra is only for non-metro and tier 2 -3 cities.
He said that the coverage of the guarantee would be 50 per cent for expansion and 75 per cent for new projects.
A loan of Rs 100 crore will get an interest rate of 7.95 percent for the guarantee duration of 3 years.
Apart from health, a relief of Rs 60,000 crore has been announced for other sectors.
ECLGS limit increased
The Finance Minister said that earlier there was a provision of Rs 3 lakh crore under the Emergency Credit Guarantee Loan Scheme, out of which Rs 2.69 crore has been given. Under this scheme, an emergency credit line guarantee of Rs 1.5 lakh will now be given.
He said that its details would be prepared on the basis of the sector. That is, the total cap of this scheme has been increased from Rs 3 lakh crore to Rs 4.5 lakh crore.
Under the credit guarantee scheme, 25 lakh people will be given loan through MFI. Micro finance institutions operate in small towns and local areas.
Through these loans up to Rs 1.25 lakh will be given, on which interest can be charged only up to 2 percent more than the MCLR.
The tenure of this loan will be 3 years. These loans will be given as per the instructions of RBI and 80 percent assistance to MFIs will be for incremental lending.
Relief to the tourism sector
The Finance Minister has also made big announcements for other stakeholders of travel. Relief is being announced for Tourist Guides and 11,000 Accredited Guides, other stakeholders of travel.
While a loan scheme up to Rs 10 lakh was announced for 904 Travel and Tourism Stakeholders (TTS), 10,700 tourist guides will be able to avail loan guarantee up to Rs 1 lakh.
No processing fee or foreclosure charges will be applicable on this loan. The Ministry of Tourism will oversee it.
Expansion of Prime Minister’s Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana
The Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana is going on since March 2020 to provide free ration to the people in the covid epidemic.
Rs 1,33,972 crore has been spent on this scheme during 2020-21. According to the announcement of the Prime Minister, this scheme will be continued from May to November this year.
Rs 93,869 crore will be spent on PMGAY. In this way, the total expenditure on this will be Rs 2,27,841 crore. self-reliant india employment scheme
This ambitious scheme has been extended from 30 June 2021 to 31 March 2022.
The scheme was launched on 1 October 2020 and there was a provision of 22,810 crores which is expected to benefit 58.5 lakh people.
Under this scheme, the government is giving 24 percent of the provident fund to both the employee and the employer in an institution with less than 1000 employees.
At the same time, in an institution with more than 1000 employees, only 12 percent of the employees will be given by the government. Under this, Rs 900 crore has been given so far. DAP subsidy
Under this subsidy, 85,413 crore farmers have been given so far. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that Rs 27,500 crore has been given for the existing NBS (Nutrition Based Subsidy) in 2020-21. It has been increased to 42,275 crores in 2021-22.
war against covid-19
The Finance Minister announced that at the time of Kovid-19, about Rs 15,000 crore was given for the emergency health system. With this expenditure, 7,929 Kovid Health Centers, 9,954 Kovid Care Centers, oxygen beds have increased by 7.5 times.
Sitharaman said that Rs 23,220 crore is being given only for children and pediatric care (health facilities for children). Significantly, in the third wave, there are concerns about the safety of children.
relief to farmers
The Finance Minister said that the government’s emphasis is on doubling the income of farmers and eliminating malnutrition. The government is focusing on the development of high-yielding seeds. He said that for this ICAR has developed bio-fortified crop varieties which will help in providing more protein, iron, zinc. 21 varieties of cereals including rice, soybean, quinoa have been developed.
Revival Package for NERAMAC
Along with this, the government has decided to revive the North Eastern Regional Agricultural Marketing Corporation (NERAMAC). For this a revival package of Rs 77.45 crore is being given. 75 Farmer Producer Organizations are associated with this corporation and 13 GI crops of North East are registered. This will give an opportunity to the farmers to get a better price.
export promotion
The Finance Minister has announced a big boost to boost exports. In the press conference, he said that the government will give a boost of Rs 33,000 crore to the Support National Export Insurance Account (NEIA) for project exports.
NEIA encourages medium and long term exports. NEIA Trust has given up to Rs 52,860 crore to 211 projects till March 31, 2021. Additional funding has also been given for the next 5 years.
Also, export insurance cover of Rs 88,000 crore will be available for merchandise exports. This insurance cover will be available for the next 5 years through Credit Insurance Service (ECGC-ECGC).
Promote Digital India
Under the ambitious plan of Digital India, the target is to reach broadband in the villages. As on 31 May 2021, this service has reached 1,56,223 gram panchayats out of a total of 2,50,000 gram panchayats. The Finance Minister said that an additional Rs 19,041 crore is being provided for this. This service is being provided through BharatNet model.
Extended tenure of PLI scheme
The duration of the Production Linked Insurance (PLI) scheme has been extended till 2025-26. These incentives are applicable from August 2020 and will now continue for another 5 years. In the PLI scheme, electronics manufacturing is done on a large scale, they are given incentives.
expenditure on discoms
Under the Reform Based Result Linked Power Distribution Scheme, 25 crore smart meters, 10,000 feeders, 4 lakh km LT overhead lines are planned. The total allocation for this scheme is being made Rs 3,03,058 crore, of which the central share is Rs 97,631 crore.
Announcement for PPP Projects
The Finance Minister said that decisions have been taken to take less time in public private partnership projects and asset monetization. He said that approval in PPP model takes time. The model of InvITs can be adopted in the evaluation and approval in the new policy.