Aatmanirbhar Bharat 3.0

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday announced Aatmanirbhar Bharat 3.0 stimulus package worth Rs 2.65 lakh crore to boost the Indian economy amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The economic package follows government’s Wednesday announcement of production linked incentives (PLI) worth about $27 billion over five years for manufacturers in 10 sectors  including advance chemistry cell batteries, electronic and technology products, automobiles and auto components manufacturing, among others.

Highlights on Aatmanirbhar Bharat 1.0

• 28 states/union territories (UTs) have been brought under the national portability of ration cards with effect from September 1 & 26.2 lakh loan applications were received under the PM SVANidhi scheme for street vendors
• Credit boost has been given to 2.5 crore farmers through Kisan Credit Cards and Rs 1.4 lakh crore has been distributed to farmers.
• Also, proposals from 21 states for Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana worth Rs 1,700 crore has been sanctioned.
• Amount of Rs 2.05 lakh crore has been sanctioned to 61 lakh borrowers, under the Emergency Credit Liquidity Guarantee Scheme, 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.

The 12 announcements made are expected to lead to more job creation and provide a budgetary push in the big-infrastructure spending.

1. Aatmanirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana

• Incentivise the creation of new jobs
• Establishments registered under EPFO will get benefits if new employees are hired during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• If new employees are recruited from October 1, 2020, to June 30, 2021, the establishments registered with EPFO will be covered for the next two years.
• Eligibility criteria for establishments (registered with EPFO)-:
• Minimum of 2 new employees if reference base is 50 employees or less as on Sept 2020
• Minimum of 5 new employees if reference base is more than 50 employees as on Sept 2020
• Beneficiaries (new employees) under the scheme-:
• New employee joining EPFO registered organisation on monthly wage of less than Rs 15,000
• EPF member drawing monthly wage of less than Rs 15,000 who lost employment during COVID Pandemic (March 20 to Spet 20) & is employed on or after Oct 20.

2. Launch of ECLGS 2.0

• Scheme is available till March 31, 2021
• To be utilized for 100% guaranteed collateral free additional credit at capped interest rates
• Scheme available to entities in 26 stressed sectorsidentified by Kamath Committee plus healthcare sector with outstanding credit of above Rs 50 crore and up to Rs 500 crore as on 29.02.2020 will be covered
• Scheme also available to entities with outstanding credit upto Rs 50 crore previously covered under existing scheme
• No upper ceiling on annual turnover
• Additional credit upto 20% of outstanding as on 29.02.2020
• Tenure to be 5 years including one year moratorium on principal repayment

3. Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme

• PLI worth Rs 1.46 lakh crore is to be offered to 10 sectors to boost the domestic manufacturing.
• Total amount of nearly Rs 1.5 lakh crore has been earmarked across sectors, for the next five years.

New sectors covered

How will the incentive work?

• It is a kind of subsidy to the sector wherein direct payment from the budgeted outlay is made by the Govt for goods made in India
• PLI Scheme is an outcome- and output-oriented scheme where incentives will be paid only if the manufacturers make the goods
• Under the scheme, manufacturing companies will get an incentive of 4 to 6% on incremental sales (over base year) of goods manufactured in India for a period of next 5 years
• Base year of incentive is fixed for eligible entity
• From thereon, incentive is given on incremental sales from base year sales as a percentage of incremental sales
• Template for PLI scheme is already rolled out for mobiles, pharma & medical devices manufacturing companies
• In case of mobile manufacturing companies, the scheme is available to all companies registered in India which meet the threshold requirement of a specified incremental investment (between ₹100 crore and ₹1,000 crore) in the next four years as well as incremental sales of manufactured goods.
• In case more applications are received, then companies having the highest consolidated global manufacturing revenues will be considered. Accordingly, the scheme is designed to select only the few top companies as the Government has limited funds to disburse.

4. PM Awaaz Yojana Urban

• Additional outlay of Rs 18,000 crore over budget estimate towards PM Awaaz Yojana Urban to help ground 12 lakh houses and complete 18 lakh houses.
• This will also create additional 78 lakh jobs
• This outlay is over & above Rs 8,000 crore announced earlier this year.
• The scheme is primarily aimed at providing housing for all. Therefore, understandably, all those who already own a home or any of their family member own a home, are kept out of the benefits of PMAY.
• The beneficiary family should not own a pucca house and the beneficiary family should not have availed of central assistance under any housing scheme from GOI.” A beneficiary family will comprise of husband, wife, unmarried sons and/or unmarried daughters.
• If one needs an additional loan, the lender will provide it but the additional loans beyond the subsidised loan amount will be at a non-subsidised rate.

PMAY (U) : Features and benefits

5. Performance security on contracts-

• Performance security on contracts will be reduced to 3 per cent vs 5-10 per cent.
• The relaxation would be available on ongoing contracts which are free from disputes.
• To provide ease of doing business and relief to contractors
• EMD for tenders will be replaced by bid security self-declaration.
• Relaxations will be applicable till December 31, 2021.

6. Tax relief for developers and home buyers

• Tax relief for developers and home buyers for houses up to Rs 2 crore.
• Differential between circle rate and agreement value in real estate income tax is being increased from 10% to 20% w.e.f. today till 30-06-2021
• To provide incentive to middle class to buy homes

7. Rs 6,000 crore equity infusion into the debt platform of the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), which will help the NIIF in raising Rs 1.1 lakh crore by 2025 for infrastructure projects financing.
8. Rs 65,000 crore fertilizer subsidy will be provided to the farmers.
9. Additional outlay of Rs 10,000 crore being provided for PM Garib Kalyan Rozgar Yojana in the ongoing financial year FY21, the finance minister said.
10. Additional Rs 3,000 crore which will be released to EXIM Bank for the project exports through IDEAS scheme.
11. Rs 10,200 crore additional budget stimulus will be provided for capital and industrial expenditure on defence equipment, industrial infrastructure and green energy.
12. Rs 900 crore R&D grant for vaccine development of COVID-19. This does not include cost of vaccine or logistics for vaccine distribution (whatever is required for that will be provided).

Summary of stimulus measures announces till date