Aatmanirbhar Bharat 3.0: In the midst of the recovery from the coronavirus epidemic, the Modi government has once again announced a relief package. Under this, 12 announcements worth Rs 2.65 lakh crore were made. The announcement made by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is 15 percent of the national gross domestic product (GDP). Under the third installment of the Self-reliant India Scheme, the government’s focus was to promote new employment opportunities, encourage manufacturing, realty, exports, as well as support for the poor and the farmer. Apart from this, a separate fund has also been announced for COVID 19 vaccine development.
12 key announcements of Finance Minister:
- Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman while announcing the ‘Self-reliant India Employment Scheme’ said that this will give an incentive to both the employees and the employers. This scheme will be considered applicable on 1 October 2020 and the scheme will remain till 30 June 2021.
- Finance Minister has also announced extension of Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) till 31 March 2021. In this scheme, small and micro enterprises are provided with fully guaranteed and collateral-free loans. Apart from this, he also announced a guaranteed credit scheme to support the sectors in crisis. The scheme will cover 26 distressed sectors and entities in the healthcare sector whose credit outstanding was recorded as high as Rs 50 crore or more on 29 February 2020. These entities will be given additional credit up to 20 percent of the outstanding. The period for repaying this additional credit will be 5 years, which will include a 1-year moratorium on the principal repair. This scheme is applicable till 31 March 2021.
- To give a boost to the manufacturing sector, 10 sectors have been declared as Product Linked Incentives. The production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme of Rs 1.46 lakh crore for 10 champion sectors was announced by the government on Wednesday itself. The Finance Minister on Thursday described it as part of the Self-Reliant India Campaign 3.0.
- Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced an additional provision of Rs 18,000 crore for the urban housing scheme. This announcement will help in the completion of real estate projects, which will provide employment in many sectors and accelerate the economy. In addition to the budget estimates for the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) during the financial year 2020-21, Rs 18,000 crore will be provided from additional budgetary resources. This amount will be in addition to Rs 8,000 crore given this year. The Finance Minister said that this decision will help in completing the work of 1.2 million houses and complete 18 lakh houses. This will create 78 lakh new jobs and demand for steel and cement will also increase.
- Finance Minister has announced relief for construction and infrastructure companies associated with government contracts. Companies have been given relief in the capital and bank guarantee. The performance security has been reduced from 5-10% to 3%. Apart from this, there will no longer be any requirement of a Grim Deposit for the tender. This discount will be till December 2021.
- Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced exemption in income tax rules on the sale of residential units up to two crore rupees for the first time below the circle rate. Till now only a difference of 10 percent is allowed between the circle rate and the sale contract price. To give a boost to the residential real estate sector, the Finance Minister said that now this gap has been increased to 20 percent by 30 June 2021. This relief is for housing units up to two crore rupees.
- Finance Minister announced Rs 1.10 lakh crore platform for infra debt financing. Out of this, the government will invest 6000 crore rupees as equity in the debt platform of NIIF. The remaining equity will be raised from the private sector.
- Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a Rs 65,000 crore fertilizer subsidy to farmers to boost the economy. This will ensure adequate availability of fertilizers to the farmers during the upcoming harvest season. An additional provision of Rs 10,000 crore has been made for the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Rozgar Yojana in the current financial year, which will give a boost to the rural economy.
- The Finance Minister has announced an additional provision of Rs 10,000 crore for the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Rozgar Yojana in the current financial year. Which will give a boost to the rural economy.
- Finance Minister Sitharaman has announced Rs 3,000 crore to Exim Bank to boost exports through debt assistance.
- The Finance Minister has announced an additional budgetary allocation of Rs 10,200 crore for capital and industrial expenditure. It will be capital and industrial expenditure for domestic defence equipment, industrial incentives, industrial infrastructure and green energy.
- Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a grant of Rs 900 crore to the Department of Biotechnology for research on COVID-19 vaccine. The scope of this grant does not include the actual cost of the vaccine and the cost of distribution. A separate provision will be made for this when the vaccine is available.