(Juhi Aishwary, Journalist): One day earlier, the first installment of six lakh crores of which Prime Minister Narendra Modi had raised a ray of hope by announcing a huge economic package of Rs 20 lakh crore. On Wednesday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman made a total of 15 announcements for different sectors. A total of Rs 5,94,250 crore will be poured into the system through these announcements, which may revive the millions of small and medium scale industries that have been on the verge of closure due to Covid-19. Also, it has measures to overcome the problem of funds in front of real estate and NBFCs. The government has also extended the date of filing of returns for common income taxpayers while reducing the rate of TDS and has also extended the date of payment of fines under the scheme from dispute to trust to 31 December.
Finance Minister will give information about two days and different parts of the economic package
Finance Minister Sitharaman will give information for two days and about various parts of the economic package. Addressing a press conference with Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur and other top officials of his ministry, Sitharaman said that whatever announcements will happen will be within the scope of land, labor, liquidity, and law as per PM Modi’s thinking. The entire focus will be on micro, small, and medium scale industrial units (MSMEs) at present. But we will help the general public to overcome the present problem along with other industries. Our whole objective is to increase the speed of the economy and make India a self-sufficient country as well.
Finance Minister made 15 announcements to end unemployment
In the battle of Covid-19, the role of small and medium industries will be very important to overcome the unemployment situation across the country. Probably this is the reason that out of the 15 announcements made by the Finance Minister, 11 are directly or indirectly going to benefit the MSME sector.
Employment of millions of people working in industries secured
Many issues related to this sector like changing the definition had been hanging for the last six years, but now they were decided in a jolt. Employment of crores of people working in these industries will also be safe due to the scheme of lending without any collateral (mortgage) of three lakh crore rupees. By giving its guarantee to the loans from banks and financial institutions, the government has also removed the biggest problem of the way of getting loans from them.
Bank loan guarantee
The government is realizing that the economic cycle is at a standstill and to precede it will have to guarantee a bank loan. This is the reason why it has been decided to give the government guarantee on banking loans from the MSME sector to NBFCs. Announcement of a guaranteed loan of Rs 30,000 crore to strong and large NBFCs and a Rs 45,000 crore partial guarantee scheme for small and under-rated NBFCs will also benefit MSMEs.
In the first phase of the package, some sectors need immediate relief
In the first phase of the Rs 20 lakh crore packages, special attention has been given to the sectors which need immediate relief. For example, the real estate companies should be given six months’ relief from the important provisions of the RERA Act and to make an arrangement of Rs 90 thousand crores for the payment of dues to the power distribution companies. PM Modi on Tuesday had given the slogan to be Vocal for Local and on Wednesday, the Finance Minister announced to stop the entry of foreign companies in contracts worth Rs 200 crores originating from the government sector.
Modi government will submit three months provident fund of employees
Increasing the scope of the Prime Minister’s Poor Welfare Package, the government will now make three months (June to August 2020) on behalf of employers and employees in the Employees Provident Fund in units with 100 employees. This item will cost 2500 crores. Earlier March to May 2020 was already announced. However, the government has decided to reduce the contribution of employers and employees in EPF from 12-12 percent of the basic salary to 10-10 percent. This will save them Rs 6750 crore in three months, but the other aspect of it is that there is a loss of 4 percent for three months in the savings of employees.
Income tax return date extended to November 30, the refund will come in the account soon
Changes made in the tax rules include a reduction in rates of key TDS and TCS by 25 percent. The government says that an amount of Rs 50 thousand crores will be available in the market system. The decision to return all types of tax refunds within 45 days is also a step in this direction. While the last date for filing tax returns has been increased from 31 July to 31 October and the last date of tax audit has been extended from 30 September to 31 October 2020. It has been decided to increase the last date of tax calculation from September 30 to December 31, 2020, and from March 31, 2021, to September 30, 2021.
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