Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday announced a new set of stimulus measures to boost employment under Atmanirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojna to incentivise the creation of new employment opportunities. The new announcements aim at benefitting companies and individuals, who lost their jobs due to Covid-19 induced lockdown.
Under the scheme, if companies bring in employees who had lost their jobs between March 1, 2020 and September 30 or new employees who get registered in EPFO they will be entitled to benefits under the new announcement. To avail of befits under this scheme, the organisations with fewer than 50 employees will have to hire at least two employees, and those with more than 50 employees will have to hire 5 or more.
Here are the other major announcements made by the Finance Minister
1. Extension of Rs 3 trillion Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme till March 31, 2020
2. Announcement of ECLGS 2.0 for 26 stressed sectors identified by Kamath Committee
3. Rs 1.46 trillion boost for manufacturing Production Linked Incentives (PLI) for 10 champion sectors
4. Rs 18,000 crore additional outlay sanctioned for PM Awas Yojna
5. Relaxation of performance security on contracts from 3% to 5% to support real estate and infrastructure
The FM started the press conference by quoting the latest economic data. "A strong recovery is emerging in the economy and the Covid-19 cases have come down. Several indicators hint that the economy is improving with energy consumption growing at 12 per cent year-on-year, GST collection has touched 1.05 trillion, daily railway freight tonnage has grown 20 per cent year-on-year among others," the finance minister said.
The minister also said that the FDI inflow between April and August was at $35.37 billion, a 13 per cent rise year-on-year. Markets are at a record high while market capitalisation is also at record levels, added the FM.
The FM apprised about progress made under the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative. The One Nation - One Ration Card scheme has seen interstate portability and been implemented in 28 states, said the FM. Meanwhile, over 2.6 million loan applications have been received under PM Street Vendor Atmanirbhar Bharat Nidhi and Rs 1373.33 crore loans sanctioned in 30 states and six union territories. Work has also commenced on the portal for migrant workers.
The government also informed that Rs 143,262 crore has been disbursed to 15.744 million farmers through Kisan Credit Cards along with Rs 1,681.32 crore under Matsya Sampada Yojna. Sitharaman also highlighted that Rs 25,000 crore has been sanctioned as additional emergency working capital to facilitate farmers in sowing Kharif crops.
The new announcement comes a day after the government approved a Rs 1.45-trillion package by extending the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme to 10 more sectors. The latest approval is in addition to the already announced Rs 51,311-crore PLI for three sectors. With this, the total incentives under the PLI schemes come to Rs 2 trillion.
The government hopes that the PLI schemes would provide 200,000-300,000 direct employment over five years, according to sources in the know.
Among the 10 sectors approved on Wednesday, the largest chunk of the incentives, at over Rs 57,000 crore, would go to automobile and automobile components businesses followed by ACC battery at over Rs 18,000 crore.
Briefing reporters after the meeting on Wednesday, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said, "We are yet again proving that the policy that we are taking up even in PLI through which we want manufacturers to come to India is clearly to say we want to build on our strength but yet link with the global value chains."
The last stimulus package in May largely failed to soften the blow of the strict coronavirus lockdown as it focused on providing liquidity and collateral-free credit for small businesses but with little actual spending. It also left out badly hit sectors such as tourism, hospitality, and aviation.
The Indian economy, which the International Monetary Fund singled out as a global bright spot only a few years ago, contracted a hefty 23.9 per cent in the April-June quarter and is seen contracting over 10 per cent in the fiscal year to March 2021.
Meanwhile, the coronavirus cases are still surging in major Indian cities and the country has been adding over 40,000 cases a day.
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