Following are the highlights of the fifth and final tranche of the Rs 20 lakh crore comprehensive economic package announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to tide over the COVID-19 crisis:
* Additional Rs 40,000 cr allocation for MGNREGS to provide employment boost
* Public expenditure on health to be increased
* Ramp up health centres in rural and urban areas for any future pandemics
* Suspension of fresh initiation of insolvency proceedings up to 1 year
* Threshold to initiate insolvency proceedings raised to Rs 1 crore from Rs 1 lakh
* Decriminalisation of Companies Act violations involving minor technical defaults
* Most of compoundable offences sections to be shifted to internal adjudication mechanism
* Allowed direct listing of securities by Indian firms in permissible foreign markets
* Govt opens all sectors to private companies, while public sector enterprises to play role in defined areas
* At least one enterprise in strategic sectors but private sector to be allowed
* PSEs to be privatized in non-strategic areas; timing to be based on feasibility etc
* State borrowing limit raised to 5 per cent from 3 per cent for FY’21; to unleash Rs 4.28 lakh crore
* Part of the enhanced state borrowing to be linked to specific reforms
* Total stimulus package stands at Rs 20,97,053 crore, including RBI’s liquidity measures of Rs 8,01,603 crore since February 2020
* Announced Rs 1,92,800 crore schemes including Rs 1.70 lakh crore PM Garib Kalayan Yojana in March
* First tranche of stimulus amounted to Rs 5.94 lakh cr; second Rs 3.10 lakh cr; third Rs 1.50 lakh cr and Rs 48,100 cr in fourth and fifth tranches.
