Finance Minister Likely to Lay Down Details of 20 Lakh Crore Package Today at 4pm in Press Conference

20 Lakh Crore Package Details to be conveyed

Thursday, 14th May 2020

It is anticipated that in her address at a press conference today at 4pm, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is going to set forth further details regarding the 20 lakh crore economic package.

The Finance minister is also expected to announce a course of action that will assist the agriculture sector as well as other associated enterprises. The MSME sector will be given special attention as they have probably borne the maximum brunt of the effects of continued lockdown in the country. Sitharaman could announce a credit guarantee scheme as well because of frozen sales and overdue payments from bigger industrial units.

The announcement is likely to include plans about the supply chain system of the country which has been considerably depredated and chart a course to get it back on track.

Today’s announcements are an outcome of the previously held meeting between Nirmala Sitharaman and the Minister of State for Finance, Anurag Thakur where they unveiled a sequence of programs to help MSMEs and liquidity issues that are being faced by financing companies such as NBFCs, HFCs and MFIs.

The Aatma Nirbhar economic package was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to battle ongoing crisis due to the coronavirus pandemic and make the country self-reliant in the process, in his address to the nation on Tuesday. He mentioned that focus is to be given to land, labour, liquidity and laws. The Finance Minister, further emphasizing his words, said on Wednesday that this amount will prove greatly beneficial in “addressing issues faced by businesses, especially MSMEs".

The 20 lakh crore amount also includes the Rs. 1.7 lakh crore package that was earlier announced by the government in March as well as the liquidity measures that was announced by the RBI for the financial sector and NBFCs.

Former finance minister in the opposition party, P Chidambaram however expressed his chagrin over the announcements barring the skimpy package for the MSMEs. He said there was nothing in it for migrant workers who have probably faced the maximum burden having had to walk hundreds of kilometers to get back home.

Source: India Today