Nirmala Sitharaman press conference highlights: New job scheme, boost to housing sector, grants for Covid-19 vaccine development announced

The Finance Minister announced 12 stimulus measures including a new job scheme, more disbursements to PM Garib Kalyan Yojana and for capital expenditure, income tax relief for housing sector were key announcements.

Thank you for following our the Finance Minister's press briefing. Stay tuned to DH for the latest news

To read the key takeaways from Nirmala Sitharaman's press conference, click here

Summary of Stimulus measures

R&D grant for Covid-19 vaccine development

Rs 900 crore to be provided for research and development of indigeneous Covid vaccine to Department if Biotechnology

Eleventh scheme: Capital and Industrial stimulus: Rs 10,200 crore additionally to be given for capital and industrial stimulus

This capital expenditure includes production of domestic defence eequipment, industrial incentives, industrial infrastructure, green energy

Tenth scheme: Boost for Project Exports: Rs 3,000 crore to EXIM bank under Line of Credit for promotion of project exports

Boost for Project Exports: Rs 3,000 crore to EXIM bank under Line of Credit for promotion of project exports

Currently, 811 export contracts (Such as railways, power, transmission, road and transport, auto components, sugar) are being financed under LoCs

Ninth scheme: Boost for Rural employment

PM Garib Kalyan Yojana: So far Rs 73, 504 crore has been released under MGNREGA and 251 crore person-days of employment were generated.

Further additional outlay of Rs 10,000 crore will be provided under the PMGKY in the current financial year, acclerating growth in the rural economy

Eighth scheme: Support for Agriculture: Rs 65,000 crore to be provided for subsidised fertilisers

There is an estimated increase in fertiliser usage of 17.8% over actual usage in 2019-20. Increased supply of fertilisers at subsidised rates will help 140 million farmers across the country.

Seventh Scheme: Rs 1.10 lakh crore platform for infrastructure debt financing - Government to invest Rs 6,000 crore equity

Debt platform to be set up by NIIF comprising an NBFC Infra Debt Fund and an NBFC Infra Finance Company. NIIF to provide financing of Rs 110,000 crore by 2025

Sixth scheme: Income Tax Relief for Developers and Home Buyers

1. Differetial has been increased from 10% to 20% up to June 2021 for the primary sale of residential units if value up to Rs 2 crore.

This will help clear inventory as there is a supply boom in the housing sector.

This will help both home sellers and home buyers giving opportunities.

Fifth scheme: Support for construction and Infrastructure: Relaxation of EMDs and Performance Security on government tenders

Performance security on contracts reduced to 3% up to December 2021. EMD s will be replaced by Bid security Declarataions.

This will bring relief to contractors by reducing locking up of capital.

Fourth Scheme: PM Awaas Yojana (Urban)

The Real Estate, which has seen a good movement, has received good traction from this scheme. Apart from what ewas earmarked in the budget , an additional Rs 18,000 crore will be provided, helping 12 lakh houses to be grounded and 18 lakh houses that are yet to be completed.

Additional jobs will be created, more steel and cement (which are core sectors) will be bought and sold.

FM announces third scheme: PLI scheme for 10 key sectors

Indian govt has already approved the PLI scheme for 3 years. The new PLI scheme covers 10 more sectors.

It will cover sunrise sectors, labour-intensive sectors and those with which India hopes to meet the global value chain, which we hope will boost for domestic employment and investment, Fm says

Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme extended to 31st March 2021

The tenor for replayment of ECGLS was 3+1 years

The government will now introduce Emergency Credit Support scheme especially for distressed sectors, wherein the tenor for replayment has been extended for 4+1 years

What are the benefits of the new job scheme?

For 2 years the Central government will pay for:
1. Establishments employing upto 1000 employees: Employee's contribution of 12 per cent and employer's contribution of 12 per cent totalling 24 per cent wages. to be borne by the government

2. Above 1000 employees: Centre will pay employee's EPF contribution of 12 per cent.
65% of those in the formal sector will be covered under this scheme.

FM's stimulus measures: Job scheme to boost employments - Who will benefit

FM to announce stimulus measures: Atmanirbhar Bharat 3.0 - Boost to employment

1. Atmanirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana:
PM's Protsahan Yojana was active till March 2019. The new scheme means that EPFO-registered firms hiring new employees from 1st October hired or those hiring employees who had lost their jobs will now get benefits up to 2 years.

FM outlines progress of Atmanirbhar Bharat 2.0

1. Festival announcements: SBI issued Utsav cards to disburse these festivals advance, LTC was introduced has also met with success

2. Rs 25,000 crore provided to Road and Highways and Defence to boost capital expenditure

3. 11 states have been sanctioned Rs 3,621 cr as interest free loans for capital expenditure. Rs 450 crore assigned to Bihar

4. Income tax refunds have been returned to people in a timely manner. Rs 1,32,800 crores have been refunded to people

FM outlines progress of Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan 1.0

1. Emergency Credit Liquidity Guarantee Scheme: Rs 2.05 lakh crores to 61 lakh borrowers, of which Rs 1.52 crores has been disbursed.

2. Partial credit guarantee scheme: PSBs have approved portfolio of Rs 26,889 crores

3. Special liquidity scheme: Rs 7,227 crore disbursed to NDFCs and HFCs

4. 17 states have received states have received sanction of Rs 1.7 lakh crore

FM outlines progress of Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan 1.0

1. Kisan Credit Card scheme: Credit boost has been given to 2.5 crore farmers through Kisan Credit Cards, Rs 1.4 lakh crore has been distributed to farmers

2. Matsya Sampada Yojana: Rs 1,681 cr has been given and sanctioned for fishermen

3. Rs 25,000 crore were distributed to farmers over and above the BE in preparation for the Rabi crop

RBI predicts a strong likelihood of the Indian economy returning to positive growth in Q3:2020-21, ahead by a quarter of the earlier forecast: FM Nirmala Sitharaman

FM outlines progress of Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan 1.0

1. One Nation One ration scheme: Interstate portability of ration cards on, covering 68.6 cr beneficiaries. Intrastate portability also enabled in 28 states. 1 crore transactions are happening each month.
2. PM SavarNidhi scheme: Coverage for street vendors now in 30 states. Over 26 lakh loan applications received.
3. Portal for migrant workers being created

Economic rebound strong: FM says

Moody's have reassessed their growth to -8.9% for this year and to 8.6% for the year ahead growth forecast

This shows that the economy is correcting itself in a positive direction, FM says.

Strong recovery seen in india; Active cases have declines, fatality rate is now 1.47%. The last 10-15 days have shown that economic recovery is definitely happening,

CPI shows a strong pitch for recovery. Energy consumption, GST collections have seen record collections. Daily freight tonnage has also increased year-on-year 20%.

Bank credit YoY has grown 5.1%. Markets are at record high, net investments, FPIs are also positive, the Finance Minister says.

Finance Minister begins briefing

Experts believe the fresh economic stimulus is well-timed ahead of Diwali, and is expected as the previous packages were underwhelming

Nirmala Sitharaman to hold briefing at 12:30 pm

What the ministry is looking at for a stimulus package

India's manufacturing PMI rose for 3rd straight month in October

India's manufacturing sector activity improved for the third straight month in October with companies raising output to the greatest extent in 13 years amid robust sales growth, a monthly survey said on Monday.

The headline seasonally adjusted IHS Markit India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) rose from 56.8 in September to 58.9 in October and pointed to the strongest improvement in the health of the sector in over a decade.

Read more

GDP to contract 8.6% in Q2; India has entered recession for first time: RBI official

The GDP is likely to contract by 8.6 per cent for the July-September period, which means India will enter into a recession for the first time in history in the first half of this fiscal with two successive quarters of negative growth due to the Covid-19 pandemic, as per an RBI official.

Researchers have used the 'nowcasting' method to arrive at the estimates ahead of the official release of data and their views in an article in RBI's monthly bulletin released on Wednesday do not constitute the central bank's views.

Read more

Investors keenly eyeing stimulus package

Investors would keenly watch how the government would fund the stimulus, said Rusmik Oza, head of fundamental research at Kotak Securities.

"If (India) needs to revive key sectors severely impacted by Covid-19, pump money into the economy and create jobs, we need to watch the sources of funding beyond budgetary support as the government is committed to its fiscal deficit target", Oza said.

The country will also report its retail inflation data for October later in the day.

Equity benchmark Sensex dropped over 200 points in early trade on Thursday, tracking losses in financial stocks ahead of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's press conference

The government's last stimulus package in May largely failed to soften blow of the strict coronavirus lockdown

The government's last stimulus package in May largely failed to soften blow of the strict coronavirus lockdown as it focused on providing liquidity and collateral-free credit for small businesses but with little actual spending.

Today's package will likely be targeted towards stressed sectors with a focus on generating employment.

the Finance ministry on Wednesday approved spending of Rs 2 trillion to boost manufacturing

India's cabinet on Wednesday approved a proposal to provide production-linked incentives of about 2 trillion rupees ($27 billion) over five years to create jobs and boost manufacturing in the country, the finance minister said

Read more