Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday announced new Aatmanirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana to incentivise the creation of new employment during the COVID-19 recovery phase as part of Modi governments second stimulus package.
In a press meet, Sitharaman also said the Indian economy is witnessing a strong recovery after a long and strict lockdown. Addressing a press conference to announce more stimulus measures to boost growth, she said macro-economic indicators are pointing towards recovery.
Highlights of FM Sitharaman’s press conference:
- 11 States have availed Rs 3,621 crore under interest-free loans towards capital expenditure. IT refunds have gone in a big way to people; 1.32 lakh crore refunds given.
- Under the Emergency Credit Liquidity Guarantee Scheme, a total amount of Rs 2.05 lakh crore has been sanctioned to 61 lakh borrowers, out of which Rs 1.52 lakh crore has been disbursed. Rs 1.18 lakh crore has been sanctioned to discoms of 17 states/UTs.
- Bank credit growth is up 5.1%; markets are at a record high. RBI predicting a strong likelihood of economy returning to positive growth in Q3 says FM. She also noted that Moody’s has reassessed India’s economic outlook, making an upward revision to its GDP forecast.
- The work has commenced on creating a portal for migrant workers.
- There has been very good progress on ‘One Nation-One Ration Card’ in 28 states covering 68.8 crore beneficiaries.
- About 157.44 lakh eligible farmers have received Kisan Credit Cards and sanctioned a limit of ₹1,43,262 crore in two phases.
- 26.2 lakh loan applications were received under the PM SVANidhi scheme for street vendors.
