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| Rs 10,000 crore fund for affordable housing, mega shopping festivals to boost exports: FM Nirmala Sitharaman | | | NEW DELHI: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said that the Indian economy is in good shape and there are clear signs of revival with robust FDI inflows and high forex reserves.
''Inflation is under control and there is a clear sign of revival of industrial production,'' the FM said. She said that a series of measures have been taken to provide relief to the economy. The FM said that inflation has been consistently held below 4%, which shows the health of the economy.Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows are robust as of now and there is a sign of revival. Forex reserves (Foreign exchange reserves) have gone up particularly in August end, the FM said.
Shifting her focus to the banking sector, the FM Sitharaman said that on September 19, she will meet chiefs of public sector banks to address the problems faced by the sector.
''NBFCs are receiving benefits of the partial credit guarantee scheme announced earlier,'' Sitharaman said. Partial credit guarantee scheme has already been implemented, she added.
''The govt will offer higher insurance cover to banks lending working capital for exports in a move which will cost Rs 1700 crores per annum to the government, she informed.
In a big relief for exporters, the FM said, ''the scheme of Remission of Duties or Taxes on Export Products (RoDTEP) is a new scheme, it shall completely replace all Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) from January 1, 2020.''
Among other measures, the FM said that Export Credit Guarantee Corporation will expand the scope of ECIS and will offer higher insurance cover. The move will cost Rs 1700 crores per annum to the government, she said.
Sitharaman said that the government is working to reduce 'time to export' by leveraging technology further; an action plan to reduce turn around time at airports and ports benchmarked to international standards to be implemented by Dec 2019 & Inter-Ministerial group will monitor this.
The measures being announced today are expected to provide a boost to the real estate and automobile sectors, aside from generating more liquidity and demand in the economy, the FM said.
The FM informed that a fully automated GST input tax credit refund system will be ready by the end of this month. Small and medium exporters will get their input tax credit refunds quick, and will not have their working capital stuck in pending dues.
In a big relief to the small taxpayers, she said small offences do not need to go through the prosecution rank. ''Whether or not an income tax error has to be prosecuted will be decided on the basis of the quantum and severity of the offence. Minor errors will be exempt from prosecution,'' the FM said.
The Finance Minister said that the technology in tax collection will reduce harassment from authorities.
After announcing major relief measures for the export sector, in six parts, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman turned her focus to the housing sector and announced a special Rs 10,000 crore window to extend funding to incomplete housing projects. Fund of Rs 10,000 crore will be contributed by Government of India (GoI) and roughly same amount from outside investors, the FM said.
A special window to provide last mile funding for housing projects which are non-NPA (Non-performing asset) & non-NCLT (National Company Law Tribunal) projects & are net worth positive in affordable and middle income category to be set up. The objective is to focus on the construction of unfinished units.
The FM continued by saying that External Commercial Borrowing (ECB) guidelines will be relaxed to facilitate financing home buyers who are eligible under the PMAY (Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana). This is an addition to the existing norms for ECB for affordable housing. |
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