AMN
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has announced a massive nine lakh crore rupees package to give a fillip to the Indian economy. This includes 6.92 lakh crore rupees infrastructure spending and 2.11 lakh crore rupees for bank recapitalisation to revive investments as well as growth.
Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, Mr Jaitley said, economic indicators support government contention that GDP growth slowdown has bottomed out and economy is turning around. He said, there was a temporary slippage in growth in the last two quarters due to transitional effect of demonetisation and GST.
The Finance Minister said it is natural that when structural reforms happen there is some impact for limited time. But medium to long term, there is huge benefit, Mr Jaitley said. Finance Minister said, there is expectation of very good growth from second quarter of current year itself. He said, for last three years, India has been fastest growing major economy in the world and the country will continue to maintain that position.
Mr Jaitley said, to boost job creation, the government granted enhanced access of funds for MSMEs, including by way of customising Mudra loans. The Cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday, approved a 6.92 lakh crore rupees investment in building 83,677-km of road over the next five years, which will create 14.2 crore mandays of jobs. These include Bharatmala road project.
Cabinet also approved a massive bank recapitalisation programme of 2.11 lakh crore rupees. Out of these, recapitalisation bonds will account for 1.35 lakh crore rupees, while another 76,000 crore rupees will come from budgetary support and equity issuance.
A presentation was made at a briefing titled ‘The India Story: Speeding Up For Take Off!’ which highlighted that the economy grew by 7.5 per cent per annum in the three years of BJP-rule since 2014.