Finance Minister announced the fourth installment of Rs 20 lakh crore relief package
New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the fourth installment of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Rs 20 lakh crore relief package on Saturday. Like most announcements of the first three days, there was no such thing as a relief package in the new announcement.
In the name of the package, he spoke of structural reforms in eight areas, which will have an impact on the future, while people devastated by covid-19 and the industry were waiting for immediate help. The sectors where he talked about changing the rules include coal, defence production, civil aviation, power distribution, space and nuclear power sectors. He informed that power distribution (DISCOM) will be privatized in the union territories. Rs 8,100 crore will be provided for Viability Gap funding in the development of social infrastructure.
50,000 crore for the coal sector
The Finance Minister said that commercial mining of coal will be started, ending the government’s monopoly. It will be based on the revenue sharing model. Coal is harmful to the environment, so it will be given an incentive to convert it into gas. India has the third largest coal reserves in the world. 50 new blocks will be made available for mining. The blocks of public sector company Coal India will also be given to the private sector for mining. The finance minister said to spend Rs 50,000 crore for coal infrastructure.
The Finance Minister said that a new exploration-cum-production system will be implemented in the mineral sector. Under this, 500 mineral blocks will be auctioned. There will be a joint auction of bauxite and coal blocks to give relief to the aluminum industry. This will reduce the cost of electricity for the aluminum industry. The difference between captive and non-captive mines will be eliminated, making it easier to transfer mining leases and auction surplus minerals.
FDI limit will increase in defence sector
The Finance Minister said that the foreign direct investment (FDI) limit from automatic route in defence manufacturing will be raised from 49% to 74%. There will be a ban on the import of some defence products, these will be made in India itself. Some imported components will also be manufactured in the country. These measures will reduce the defence import bill. For better management, the Ordnance Factory Board will be incorporated and will be listed on the stock market.
