India's coronavirus count crossed the 90,000-mark today.,
The government has shared a breakup of the mega economic relief package worth Rs 20,97,053 crore for the coronavirus-hit economy announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday that he said would be the main component of an "Atma-Nirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India)".
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman unveiled the finer details of the fiscal stimulus in five tranches after PM Modi said that the mega package aims to help small businesses, labourers and farmers. The stimulus includes measures worth Rs 8.1 lakh crore taken by the Reserve Bank of India to revive the economy battered by the pandemic.
The first tranche worth Rs 5,94,550 crore was unveiled on Wednesday when the government announced some big measures such as loan guarantees worth Rs 4.5 lakh crore to help Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), non-banking financial companies and power distribution firms access collateral-free loans from banks. Measures related to provident fund (PF), which result in a hike in take home salaries of employees across the board, were announced the same day.
As a part of the second tranche, worth Rs 3,10,000 crore, the government on Thursday said that millions of migrants will be provided free food grains for the next two months. Rs 3,500 crore will be spent on food for nearly eight crore migrant workers, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said.
Thursday's announcements focused on migrant workers, street vendors and small farmers. This included extra ration, a universal ration card that would work across the country and affordable rental housing scheme.
On Friday, as a part of third tranche - worth Rs 1,50,000 crore - the centre declared a fund Rs 1 lakh crore to strengthen farm-gate infrastructure and aggregators like Farmers' Producers Organisation, agricultural entrepreneurs and primary agriculture cooperative societies. Rs 20,000 crores will be made available for fishermen through the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana.
Saturday's announcements included reforms to eight sectors as the fourth tranche was revealed. Among the centre's big-ticket measures on Saturday were a 25 per cent increase in FDI in the defence sector and removal of government monopoly on coal mining. The government also proposed easing of restrictions on Indian airspace.
Today, the Finance Minister announced a big boost in spending on the MNREGA scheme, an upped borrowing limit for states, more relaxations for private players and big changes for health and education sectors.
The fourth and fifth tranche are worth Rs 48,100 crore.