NEW DELHI: The government on Thursday sought to lift the sagging economy through an early Diwali gift in the form of Atmanirbhar Bharat 3.0.
The long-awaited stimulus package unveiled by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman aims to generate employment, offer credit support to 26 stressed sectors identified by the Kamath Committee, and revive the real estate sector.
Sources said the Centre’s additional spending this year will be Rs 1.30 lakh crore as most schemes are spread over 2-5 years.
The cumulative stimulus measures announced so far stand at around Rs 30 lakh crore, or 15% of the GDP, according to Sitharaman.
She pegged the total allocation of the measures announced on Thursday at Rs 2.65 lakh crore. This includes the productivity-linked incentive scheme announced on Wednesday.
While the government extended the Rs 3 lakh crore emergency credit line guarantee scheme till March 31 next year, the centrepiece of the third stimulus package was Atmanirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana, which aspires to generate employment.
It offers a two-year subsidy to firms that hire employees between September 30, 2020 and June 30, 2021. Under this, the government will pay both the employee’s contribution towards EPFO (12% of basic salary) and the employer’s contribution (12%) in firms with less than 1,000 staff.
For larger firms employing over 1,000, the government will pay only the employee’s part (12%) with the companies continuing to contribute 12% as before.
The subsidy will be only for employees with monthly wages up to Rs 15,000. To avail the scheme, companies with less than 50 employees will have to hire two new staff, while firms with headcount above 50 will need to create five new jobs.
The subsidy will cost the government Rs 6,000 crore over two years. Experts say it will improve the jobs scenario.
Sitharaman also allocated Rs 10,000 crore more for the rural job scheme. Meanwhile, the struggling real estate sector has got a good reason to cheer with the FM announcing Rs 18,000 crore extra stimulus under the PM Awas Yojana.
Plus, tax rules have been eased to allow sale of housing units up to Rs 2 crore at a price 20% below the stamp duty circle rate. Currently, rules restrict the differential at 10%, lest penalties under I-T Act will apply.