FM announces new Aatmanirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana for job creation

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today Thursday announced new Aatmanirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana to incentivise creation of new employment during COVID-19 recovery phase.

"Economy has staged a strong recovery with growth in GST collections, bank credit, FDI inflows along with other indicators," says the Finance Minister.

Every EPFO registered orgs - if they take in new employees or those who had lost jobs b/1 March 1 & Sept 30 - these employees will get benefits, says FM.

Speaking on income-tax refunds Sitharaman said, "Rs 1,32,800 crores have gone as income-tax refunds to 39.7 lakh taxpayers."

Rs 18,000 Crores will be provided over and above the budget estimate which was mentioned in the Budget 2020-21 under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, particularly for the urban areas. This extra budgetary resource being provided will help 12 Lakh houses to be grounded ans 18 Lakh houses will get completed as a result: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

Transport ministry and ministry of Defence for additional capital expenditure have been provided Rs 25,000 crore, said the FM.

"Strong recovery of economy has been evident. PMI rose to 58.9 in October. Strongest increase in output in close to 9 years. Energy consumption growth trended higher in October at 12 per cent YoY. RBI has predicted a strong likelihood of Indian economy returning to positive growth in third quarter itself, ahead by a quarter of the earlier forecast. Prominent economists have suggested that the rebound is not only due to pent up demand, but also strong economic growth."

"Under PM street vendor's Atma Nirbhar Nidhi 26.62 lakh loan applications have been received. 13.78 lakh loans totalling Rs 1,373.33 crore sanctioned in 30 states and 6 UTs. About 157.44 lakh eligible farmers have received Kisan Credit Cards and sanctioned a limit of Rs 1,43,262 crore in two phases," added the FM.

Support for Construction & Infrastructure-Performance security on contract to be reduced to 3 per cent instead of 5 per cent. Earnest Money Deposit will not be required for tenders and will be replaced by Bid Security Declaration. Relaxations will be given till 31st December 2021.

Pradhan Mantri Rozgar Protsahan Yojana was implemented up to 31.03.2019. It had covered all sectors and is expected to run for 3 years. So even if someone joined the scheme on 31.03.2019, they would be covered under that existing scheme from then three years: FM Nirmala Sitharaman.

'One Nation, One ration card' now covers 68.6 crore Indians," also claimed Sitharaman.

We are launching credit guarantee support scheme for healthcare sector and 26 sectors stressed due to COVID19. Entities will get additional credit up to 20% of outstanding credit, repayment can be done in five years' time (1 year moratorium + 4 years repayment), says the FM.

Speaking about Credit Liquidity Guarantee Scheme the Finance Minister said, "Under the Emergency Credit Liquidity Guarantee Scheme, a total amount of Rs 2.05 lakh crores has been sanctioned to 61 lakh borrowers, out of which Rs 1.52 lakh crores has been disbursed."

Also, Rs 3 lakh crore existing emergency credit line guarantee scheme extended till March 31, 2021.

Establishments registering with EPFO after the commencement of Scheme to get subsidy for all new employees. Scheme to be operation till 30th June, 2021: FM Sitharaman.

Guaranteed credit support for 26 stressed sectors identified by the Kamath Committee. Original ECLGS had one year of moratorium and 4 years of repayment, the new scheme will have 1-year moratorium and 5 years of repayment.

"SBI Utsav cards being distributed, under the festival advance scheme announced on 12th Oct. 11 states sanctioned Rs 3,621 crores as an interest-free loan towards capital expenditure."

The presser comes amid wide speculations that the government will announce another mega stimulus worth $20 billion to help the key sectors badly affected due to coronavirus.

The presser will be held after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and other top officials will give the final go-ahead to the fourth mega stimulus plan.

After several rounds of discussion the government has almost finalised the next stimulus package, the source said, adding that the size of the stimulus could be much lower than the earlier announced amount of Rs 20 lakh crore.

The government may announce the reintroduction of the Pradhan Mantri Rojgar Protsahan Yojna in an expanded form, they said. Under this scheme government may give 10 percent subsidy on PF contribution for new employees and the employer, both.

The presser comes a day after the Union Cabinet gave its approval to the Production Linked Incentives (PLI) scheme for 10 sectors, under which businesses will get incentives worth over Rs 2 lakh crore in 5 years.

The PLI scheme, Sitharaman had said, would provide encouragement to the critical sunrise sectors by ensuring necessary support from the government in addition to creating jobs and linking India to global value chain.

The pandemic-induced lockdowns had led to a steep contraction of 23.9 per cent in the GDP for the April-June quarter as compared to the same period a year ago.