Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman held a press conference sharing the details about the last and fifth tranche of the economic relief packages of Rs. 20 lakh crores for the Amanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan package.
In the fifth tranche of the Rs 20 lakh crore economic relief package, Finance Minister distributed it under seven segments today which are: MNREGA; Health – rural and urban, including education; businesses and Covid-19; decriminalization of Companies Act; ease of doing business; state governments and resources related to state governments; public sector enterprises
Highlights of the fifth tranche
– More than Rs 4,113 crore was released to states. Insurance cover of Rs 50 lakh per person has been announced for healthcare workers. Epidemic Diseases Act was amended for the protection of healthcare workers
– Health expenditure will be increased and investment at the grassroots level will be ramped up for health and wellness centers, with a particular focus on aspirational districts. All districts will have infectious diseases block in hospitals. Public health labs will be set up at block levels
– Covid-19 crisis enabled India to prove to the world that we can ramp up our production of protective equipment. From 0 producers, we today have more than 300 domestic PPE manufacturers; we have given more than 11 crore HCQ tablets
– Govt has taken a number of health-related steps for COVID19 containment- Rs 15000 crore announced for states, essential items, testing labs and kits along with rolling out of teleconsultation services, the launch of Arogya Setu app and protection to health care workers with adequate PPEs
– Govt will allocate additional Rs 40,000 crore for MGNREGA scheme, says
– 44% recovery achieved since the inception of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code
– 200 new textbooks have been added to e-Pathshala, states, provision has been made the telecast of live interactive sessions for teachers and students, states are coordinating to share educational air-time
– PM Dikhsha app will be the one nation one digital platform, one year marked TV channel per class will be a part of the scheme
– Special e-content for visually impaired students
– Technology-driven education to be the focus- PM e-VIDYa programme for multi-mode access to digital/online education to be launched immediately. Top 100 universities will be permitted to automatically start online courses by May 30, 2020
– Timely action was taken during COVID19 to reduce compliance burden under various provisions of Companies Act. Board meetings were allowed to be online, rights issues can be done digitally, major reform in corporate governance and debts due to COVID19 will not be included in the category of ‘default’
– Decriminalisation of Companies Act defaults; 7 compoundable offences altogether dropped and 5 to be dealt with under alternative framework. The amendment will de-clog the criminal courts and NCLT
– No fresh insolvency to be initiated for 1 year; COVID-19 related debt to be excluded from the definition of default
– The minimum threshold to initiate insolvency proceedings raised to Rs 1 crore from Rs 1 lakh to benefit MSMEs
– Indian public companies can list their securities directly in foreign jurisdictions. Private companies which list Non-Convertible Debentures on stock exchanges will not be regarded as listed companies
– Government to announce a new public sector policy- a list of strategic sectors requiring the presence of PSEs in the public interest will be notified. In strategic sectors, at least 1 enterprise to remain in the public sector but the Pvt sector to be allowed. In other sectors, PSEs to privatized
– States have so far borrowed only 14 per cent of the limit which is authorised to them. 86 per cent of the limit remains unutilised. Centre has decided to increase borrowing limits of states from 3 per cent to 5 per cent of Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) for 2020-21 to make available Rs 4.28 lakh crore extra.
Here is the brief overview of the Rs 20 lakh crores dedicated in all the five phase
The first tranche of the economic relief package 5,94,550 crores was dedicated for MSMEs.
The second Rs 3,10,000 crores were focused on providing relief for migrant workers, street vendors, small traders, the self-employed and small farmers.
The third tranche Rs 1,50,000 crores were related to strengthening infra, logistics, storage; three on governance administration and reforms focused on agriculture and allied activities
The fourth tranche was dedicated to structural reforms in new sectors, where growth is possible and employment is generated.
The stimulus provided in the fourth & fifths tranches of the economic package amounts to Rs 48,100 crores.
The overall stimulus package under the Atmanirbhar (self-reliant) Bharat amounts to Rs 20,97,053 including Pradhan Mantri Gareeb Kalyan Package and the money released by RBI.
