The finance minister chaired a meeting through video conference with major private banks and NBFCs to ensure effective rollout of ECLGS and uninterrupted liquidity to Indian MSMEs in this difficult time.
Giving a relief to exporters community, the government on Thursday said it will release Rs 56,027 crore to exporters against pending tax refunds under different incentive schemes for outbound shipments. The amount will be disbursed to more than 45,000 exporters. Briefing the media about the decision, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said that the Rs 56,027 crore, which is being released under various export promotion schemes, is over and above duty remission of Rs 12,454 crore for the Remission of Duties and Taxes on Export Products (RoDTEP) Scheme and Rs 6,946 crore for Rebate of State and Central Levies and Taxes (RoSCTL) Scheme already announced.
The approval for provisioning of Rs 20,000 crore as subordinate debt to provide equity support will benefit 2 lakh stressed MSMEs.
'You have come out with a package for the kisan.' 'You have a package for industry.' 'But has anyone addressed the issues concerning small traders?'
'You cannot start an MSME again.' 'It is not like a Yes Bank that someone comes and saves the bank.' Once the shutter is down for an MSME, nobody will come to its rescue.'
Known for delivering time-bound results, Sharma earned Modi's confidence as his secretary during his tenure as the Gujarat chief minister by successfully handling the Vibrant Gujarat campaign to get investments to the state.
In his address after more than 75,000 people were given appointment letters for various government jobs in the first tranche, Modi acknowledged the challenges facing the economy the world over with many countries hit by a record inflation and unemployment and said India is making every effort to come out of the situation unscathed.
The government has only taken a pause and more measures will be announced in the days to come to help sectors hit by the coronavirus outbreak and also to make India 'Atmanirbhar Bharat', Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur said. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, the government has taken several steps to mitigate the hardships of the people due to lockdown and support growth, Thakur told PTI in an interview.
In a multi-city protest on Monday, a large number of company secretaries (CS) and chartered accountants (CAs) came together to seek extension of the deadline for annual filing due to glitches in the ministry of corporate affairs (MCA) portal. According to the Companies Act, firms are supposed to submit Form AOC 4 for filing of the balance sheet within 30 days of holding the annual general meeting (AGM). This deadline was over on October 29.
The government on Tuesday extended till March 15 the deadline for corporate to file Income Tax returns for the fiscal ended March 2021. The deadline to file tax audit report and transfer pricing audit report for 2020-21 fiscal too has been extended till February 15. This is the third extension given to corporate for filing the income tax return for 2020-21 fiscal.
Officials said several witnesses were heard on the impact of the pandemic. They added that this was the longest meeting of the panel without a break so far.
Of the total cash outgo Rs 40,000 crore is towards enhanced expenditure under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Program and Rs 33,771.48 crore have been sought for direct benefit transfer under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana and National Social Assistance Programme.
The focus of the meeting will be on enabling businesses and households to avail of the revival framework on the basis of viability, necessary steps like finalising bank policies and identifying borrowers, and discussing issues that require addressing for smooth and speedy implementation.
The National SC/ST Hub, under the micro, small and medium enterprises ministry, with an initial outlay of Rs 490 crore, will work towards strengthening market access/linkage, monitoring, capacity building, leveraging financial support schemes and sharing industry-best practices.
The government is set to ask PSBs to expeditiously introduce repo-rate linked products "to step up affordable credit".
Exporters on Thursday demanded fiscal incentives, tweaking in customs duties on certain products and credit at affordable rates in the forthcoming Budget to boost exports and create jobs. In a pre-budget virtual meeting with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) said the depreciation of the rupee against the US dollar is affecting exports' competitiveness and the sector requires more support. "Creation of employment is the biggest challenge faced by the country...We would urge the government to provide fiscal support to units which provide additional employment in the export sector," the exporter's body said.
Small and medium enterprises have been struggling to raise bank credit even as they have been powering India's manufacturing growth in recent years.
The top 10 in terms of the number of MSMEs is dominated by the larger states with Uttar Pradesh at the top.
'You peel one layer, then another layer, then another, but in the end, you will see that there is no onion inside.' 'This package has been packaged well, but there is nothing much inside the package!'
Agriculture and allied activity loans are not eligible for the interest on interest waiver announced by the government last week, the finance ministry has clarified.
Known for delivering time-bound results, Sharma earned Modi's confidence as his secretary during his tenure as the Gujarat chief minister by successfully handling the Vibrant Gujarat campaign to get investments to the state.
India Inc on Thursday pitched for continuation of reforms while ensuring tax and policy stability in the forthcoming Budget to prop up the economy hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. In the virtual pre-Budget consultation held with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, industry chambers said that government measures will help firmly entrench the nascent signs of recovery being currently seen in private investment. Capital expenditure by the government through enhanced infrastructure spending should in the meantime continue to support growth, CII president TV Narendran said.
According to industry sources, domestic toy manufacturers are seeing a sharp rise in sales during the current financial year. On January 1, 2021, India had banned the sale of toys that are not certified by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). This meant that all factories churning out toys to be sold in India had to be certified by the bureau along with mandatory product testing, including for units abroad.
The Reserve Bank on Tuesday asked all lending institutions, including non-banking financial companies, to implement the waiver of interest on interest for loans up to Rs 2 crore for the six months moratorium period beginning March 1, 2020.
The IMA feels that there is a dire need for a drastic change in health administration which can be realised by raising a new cadre of administrators, it said in a statement.
"Unfortunately, while homage was paid to the photos of Bapu, and he found mention in speeches for many years, Khadi, handicrafts, use of swabhasha and swadeshi were forgotten. After becoming the prime minister, Narendra Modi gave a new lease of life to all these ideas of Bapu," Shah said.
The presence of the private sector at a prestigious military training institution is an important acknowledgement of its growing capabilities in designing and manufacturing cutting edge aerospace and defence equipment, reports Ajai Shukla.
There are over 26 million MSMEs in the country that provide employment to around 60 million people.
The finance ministry is working on a second relief package for the Indian economy hit hard by the coronavirus outbreak and the 21-day nationwide lockdown imposed to curb the contagion, sources said. Last month, the government announced a Rs 1.70 lakh crore relief package in the form of foodgrains and cash transfers for the poor and vulnerable section of the society to help them deal with the hardships caused by the lockdown. Now, the government is working on a stimulus to be given to hard-hit sectors of the economy after the lockdown is lifted, sources said, adding that an announcement is expected in the next few days depending on the severity of the pandemic.
Spurring the economy, currently in the throes of a slowdown, remains the prime focus for most ministries, but the government is also looking to make women's welfare and environmental protection key to policymaking in this term.
A plea was filed in the Supreme Court on Wednesday challenging the Delhi high court's May 31 verdict which dismissed a petition seeking to suspend all construction activity of the Central Vista Avenue redevelopment during the COVID-19 pandemic while describing it as a 'vital' and 'essential' project of national importance.
The meeting assumes significance as Swedish furniture retailer IKEA, which plans to invest Rs 10,500 crore (Rs 105 billion) to set up its own stores in India, had sought relaxation in certain conditions related to the mandatory 30 per cent sourcing from micro and small enterprises.
E-commerce firms and sellers including Amazon and eBay have made recommendations to the government for a differentiated policy framework for e-commerce in the revised Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) which is expected to come into effect from April 1, 2021. This is because the existing policies on exports have catered largely to traditional, offline and business-to-business exports. Suggestions have been made to the government that through the FTP, it is important to create a conducive policy framework for e-commerce exports that lowers the entry barrier for small businesses to start exporting, according to the industry sources.
Since December 2018, monetary policy has been eased substantially by RBI with policy rates being cut by 75 bps and policy outlook being changed to 'accommodative'.
The government, in collaboration with the UN-body World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), has commissioned a study to ascertain whether India's small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are prepared to adopt the global IPR regime.
In his address to the nation from Red Fort on Independence Day, Prime Minister Modi had given a clarion call to free India from single-use plastic.
'I suspect the recovery that the banks are going to get out of this IBC is not going to be more than 30 per cent.' 'If you leave the steel industry aside, the recovery rates are not looking very, very healthy,' Jairam Ramesh tells the Rajya Sabha.
Last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that the economy is showing "green shoots" as the country emerges from the coronavirus lockdown and underscored the importance of being focussed on both life and livelihood.
When Nitin Gadkari was president of the Bharatiya Janata Party, the party had announced it would set up a separate ministry for handlooms and handicraft. Instead of doing that, the BJP government has abolished the only institution that took into account the voice of the weavers.
In an affidavit filed by Union finance ministry on behalf of the Union of India, it said that the relief to all borrowers in respect of compounding of interest during the period of moratorium would be admissible to the categories specified irrespective of whether the borrowers had availed the moratorium or not.
