By TIOL News Service

NEW DELHI, DEC 14, 2020: FINANCE Minister Ms Nirmala Sitharaman concluded a comprehensive review of the three tranches of the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Package (ANBP) to help revive the economy and fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ministries and departments concerned with implementing the packages are being reviewed and monitored regularly, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) said. Following an announcement by the Prime Minister, Ms Sitharaman presented the details of the ANBP 1.0 in May, ANBP 2.0 in October and ANBP 3.0 in November.

Ms Sitharaman on Friday concluded a comprehensive review of ANBP with the secretaries of various ministries and departments concerned over three days.

Sharing details of the progress, the Finance Ministry said banks have sanctioned loans worth Rs 2,05,563 crore to nearly 81 lakh borrowers under an Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) for businesses, including those in the MSME sector. An amount of Rs 1,58,626 crore has already been disbursed to over 40.5 lakh borrowers.

Public sector banks also approved purchase of bonds or commercial papers of Rs 27,794 crore under the revamped Partial Credit Guarantee Scheme (PCGS).

During the pandemic, a new front-loaded refinance facility of Rs 30,000 crore has been sanctioned by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) to regional rural and cooperative banks. Of this amount, Rs 25,000 has already been disbursed while Rs 5,000 was earmarked for smaller Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) and Non-Banking Financial Companies-Micro Finance Institutions (NBFCs-MFIs).

A special drive was undertaken by the Department of Financial Services under the Ministry of Finance to provide concessional credit to 1.69 crore PM-KISAN beneficiaries through Kisan Credit Cards with a sanctioned credit limit of Rs 1.54 lakh crore.

The Finance Ministry reported that the Central Board for Direct Taxes (CBDT) has issued refunds of over Rs 1,45,619 crore to more than 89.29 lakh taxpayers between 1 April and 8 December. Income Tax refunds amounted to Rs 43,274 crore, while corporate tax refunds were to the tune of Rs 1,02,345 crore.

Under the ANBP, the Centre announced special interest free 50-year loans for states' capital expenditure, worth Rs 12,000 crore. So far, 27 states have submitted proposals under the scheme and projects amounting to Rs 8455.61 crore have been approved.

For the revival of the housing and real estate sector, the government allocated Rs 18,000 crore over the budget estimates of Rs 8,000 crore for the Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana- Urban (PMAY-U) scheme.

Under the Rs 90,000 crore Liquidity Injection for power DISCOMs, Rs 118,273 crore worth of loans has been sanctioned of which Rs 31,136 crore has already been disbursed.

The MoF said seven new rail lines were also implemented with an investment of Rs 13,775 crore with the completion date set at 2023-24.