PositiveNewsCorner

Based on inputs by Meeta K

Gift for Home buyers In relief to home buyers, the government on Thursday doubled the tax exemption limit on price differential between the circle rate and the agreement value to 20%, a key component of the new Rs 2.65 lakh crore economic stimulus package. The decision on the price differential for homes will help to clear unsold inventories.

For employment generation The government will pay out both the employee and employer contributions of employees hired on or after October 1, 2020, for a period of two years under certain conditions (the monthly salary should be less than Rs 15,000 and the company should have up to 1,000 employees). For companies with more than 1,000 employees, the government will pay out the employee contribution only. The scheme, Aatmanirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana, is aimed at incentivising job creation.

For Rural India The third stimulus package provides for an additional outlay of Rs 10,000 crore to boost rural employment under the PM Garib Kalyan Rozgar Yojana, Rs 18,000 crore additional outlay for urban housing under the PM Awaas Yojana (PMAY), Rs 65,000 crore fertilizer subsidy to provide the input to farmers in the upcoming crop season and Rs 3,000 crore to boost project exports through EXIM Bank.

Infrastructure Financing To provide boost to infrastructure financing, the government also announced Rs 6,000 crore equity investment in debt platform of National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF). This will help NIIF to provide a debt of Rs 1.1 lakh crore for infrastructure projects by 2025.

Scheme for stressed sectors The second version of the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS 2.0) will provide credit guarantee support to all the stressed sectors. The list of 26 stressed sectors comes from report by Kamath Committee. The details of 26 sectors would be issued soon, however a few sectors identified by identified by the committee include construction, real estate, cement, power, steel, roads, logistics, shipping, retail, textile, consumer durables, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, gems and jewellery, auto component, mining, hospitality, tourism and aviation. The scheme will provide additional loan up to 20% of the outstanding credit with a tenor of five years, including one year moratorium on principal repayment. This scheme will be available till March 31, 2021.

Others The package also includes Rs 10,200 crore additional budget stimulus for capital and industrial expenditure on domestic defence equipment, industrial infrastructure and green energy. The other component of the package is Rs 900 crore fund to the Department of Biotechnology for research and development of an Indian Covid vaccine.