Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman unveiled Thursday the second tranche of India’s Rs 20-lakh-crore Covid-19 relief package, with a focus on migrant workers, farmers and urban poor. Wednesday’s announcements focused on small businesses, non-bank lenders and the power sector.
Out of the Rs 20 lakh crore, measures worth 15.57 lakh crore have now been unveiled, including Rs 7.09 lakh in stimuli announced by the Reserve Bank of India and the finance ministry in the early days of India’s coronavirus lockdown.
Here are the key highlights of today’s announcements:
- Free food grain supply for two months for those migrants that are neither covered under National Food Security Act, 2013 or hold a state beneficiary card.
- Technology systems being put into place to enable usage of ration cards for procuring food at any fair price shop in India.
- Will launch a scheme for providing affordable rental housing accomodation for migrant labourers and urban poor.
- Interest subvention of 2 percent for 12 months on MUDRA-Shishu loans—that are below Rs 50,000.
- Special loans of up to Rs 10,000 to provide working capital for street vendors to restart business.
- Extending credit-linked subsidy scheme—that subsidizes interest rates on affordable home loans—for middle-income families till March 2021.
- Government will use CAMPA funds of Rs 6,000 crore to push employment.
- Additional Rs 30,000 crore to be provided for crop loans through NABARD.
- Concessional credit of up to Rs 2 lakh crore for Kisan Credit Card holders.
Read on for the details of the announcements made today:
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that today's announcements will focus on migrant workers, street vendors, small traders, small farmers and self-employed people.
The interest subvention and prompt repayment incentive on crop loans due from March 1 has now been extended up to May 31, 2020.
- 63 lakh loans of Rs 86,600 crore approved in agriculture
- NABARD refinancing of Rs 29,500 crore
- Rural Infra Development Fund support of Rs 4,200 crore to states
- Rs 6,700 crore sanctioned to state government entities to procure agri produce
- Government permitted state governments to utilise State Disaster Response Fund for setting shelter for migrants and providing them food and water.
- Centre released over Rs 11,000 crore of its contribution in advance to all states.
- Three meals per day provided at the cost of central government for residents of Shelters for Urban Homeless during the lockdown.
The finance minister said that 14.62 crore person-days of work have been generated till May 13, 2020 at an expenditure of about Rs 10,000 crore.
Work has been offered to 2.33 crore wage seekers in 1.87 lakh gram panchayats. Over 40-50 percent more people have been enrolled in May, compared to last year.
This is to ensure that the migrant workers that are returning back to home states are not out of work there.
Work during monsoon will also be actively taken up, Sitharaman said.
▪️ Free Food grain supply to #Migrants for 2 months
— PIB India #StayHome #StaySafe (@PIB_India) May 14, 2020
▪️ About 8 crores migrants to benefit from this
▪️ Rs. 3500 Crore will be spent on this intervention for 2 months: @nsitharaman
at the #AatmaNirbharBharatPackage media briefing pic.twitter.com/2Kn8I7DXbS
'One Nation One Ration Card' by March 2021#AatmaNirbharBharatPackage pic.twitter.com/3QiezlPBgr
— PIB India #StayHome #StaySafe (@PIB_India) May 14, 2020
Migrant Workers / Urban Poor to have Affordable Rental Housing Complexes (ARHC): Government will launch a scheme under #PMAY #AatmaNirbharBharatPackage pic.twitter.com/9TUcgjDsoy
— PIB India #StayHome #StaySafe (@PIB_India) May 14, 2020
Government of India will provide Interest subvention of 2% for prompt #MUDRA-Shishu Loans payees for a period of 12 months
— PIB India #StayHome #StaySafe (@PIB_India) May 14, 2020
Relief of Rs 1500 cr to MUDRA-Shishu loanees#AatmaNirbharBharatPackage pic.twitter.com/IaHZl86d1c
Government to support nearly 50 lakh street vendors
— PIB India #StayHome #StaySafe (@PIB_India) May 14, 2020
Rs 5000 cr Special Credit Facility for #StreetVendors; #AatmaNirbharBharatPackage pic.twitter.com/MKKRQUwV2N
#Government to extend the Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme #CLSS up to March 2021; 2.5 lakhs middle income families to benefit during 2020-21 #AatmaNirbharBharatPackage pic.twitter.com/SwB4YKWICG
— PIB India #StayHome #StaySafe (@PIB_India) May 14, 2020
To create job opportunities for #Tribals /Adivasis -Plans worth Rs 6000 crores to be approved shortly under Compensatory Afforestation Management & Planning Authority (#CAMPA) Funds#AatmaNirbharBharatPackage pic.twitter.com/TjdhzlPbJ1
— PIB India #StayHome #StaySafe (@PIB_India) May 14, 2020
To benefit around 3 crore farmers, mostly small and marginal #farmers, Govt announces Rs 30,000 crores Additional Emergency Working Capital Funding through #NABARD #AatmaNirbharBharatPackage pic.twitter.com/KrVN0jBn5J
— PIB India #StayHome #StaySafe (@PIB_India) May 14, 2020
Rs 2 lakh crore Concessional credit boost to 2.5 crore farmers through #KisanCreditCards; Fishermen and Animal Husbandry farmers will also be included in this drive#AatmaNirbharBharatPackage pic.twitter.com/Dbv3D7wpqt
— PIB India #StayHome #StaySafe (@PIB_India) May 14, 2020
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