FM expands booster shots for economy to health, tourism…
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a slew of economic relief measures to boost the pandemic-hit economy. The government assessed the impact of the measures, including some announced recently, to be up to Rs 6.3 lakh crore, some of which will be spread over five years.
In a nutshell:
*A Rs 1.1 lakh crore loan guarantee scheme for Covid-affected sectors, with Rs 50,000 crore for the health sector and Rs 60,000 crore for other sectors. The fund allocation would be divided into 60% for expansion and 75% for new projects.
*A separate funding of Rs 23,220 crore will be spent on increasing ICU beds, oxygen supply at central and district levels. The new scheme focusses on short term emergency preparedness with special emphasis on children and paediatric care/paediatric beds.
*The government has extended the scope of the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme. As such, Rs 1.5 lakh crore has been added to the existing corpus of Rs 3 lakh crore.
*A completely new credit guarantee scheme to facilitate loans to 2.5 million people through microfinance institutions has also been announced.
*Add to this, lending of up to Rs 1.25 lakh with the focus on new lending and not on repayment of old loans. All borrowers (including defaulters up to 89 days) are eligible.
*The Centre has extended the Atmanirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana, the wage subsidy scheme, for nine more months via the Employees Provident Fund Organisation to boost job creation at the lower end of the salary structure in formal jobs.
*To perk up tourism, travel agencies will be able to get a retail loan of Rs 10 lakh while 10,700 regional level tourist guides will be eligible for a loan of Rs 1 lakh. The first 500,000 foreign tourists will be provided with visas free of cost.
