Aatmanirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana: FM announces measures to boost employment

Finance Ministery today launched new job scheme called Atma Nirbhar Rozgar Yojana to create jobs in the country. The new scheme will be effective from October 1, 2020.

Atmanirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana will be aimed at incentivising the creation of employment opportunities during the COVID-19 recovery phase.

Also read | What is Atmanirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana and who can avail it?

The announcement comes a day after the Union Cabinet approved a ₹2 lakh crore production-linked incentive (PLI) package to boost demand in the country.

India is seeing a "strong recovery" taking root in the economy, as seen by increased goods and service tax collections and other metrics, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Thursday.

The recovery is not due to just pent-up demand, Sitharaman told a news conference, ahead of announcing a new set of stimulus measures.

Government officials said on Wednesday that India was set to announce fresh stimulus this week to help pull the economy out of a historic contraction.

Here are the highlights of FM Sitharaman's press conference:

11 States have availed Rs 3,621 crore under interest-free loans towards capital expenditure. IT refunds have gone in a big way to people; 1.32 lakh crore refunds given.

Under the Emergency Credit Liquidity Guarantee Scheme, a total amount of Rs 2.05 lakh crore has been sanctioned to 61 lakh borrowers, out of which Rs 1.52 lakh crore has been disbursed. Rs 1.18 lakh crore has been sanctioned to discoms of 17 states/UTs.

Bank credit growth is up 5.1%; markets are at a record high. RBI predicting a strong likelihood of economy returning to positive growth in Q3 says FM. She also noted that Moody’s has reassessed India's economic outlook, making an upward revision to its GDP forecast.

The work has commenced on creating a portal for migrant workers.

There has been very good progress on 'One Nation-One Ration Card' in 28 states covering 68.8 crore beneficiaries.

About 157.44 lakh eligible farmers have received Kisan Credit Cards and sanctioned a limit of ₹1,43,262 crore in two phases.

26.2 lakh loan applications were received under the PM SVANidhi scheme for street vendors.

(With inputs from agencies)