Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has announced as many as 12 measures to ignite growth in the manufacturing sector and generate employment amid the Covid-19 pandemic. The financial package of Rs 2.65 lakh crore will look to improve the demand and supply side as the economy had contracted 23.4% in the June quarter.The gross domestic product (GDP) contracted 8.6% in the quarter ended September.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its bulletin, which was released on Thursday, that India has entered a technical recession in the first half of 2020-21 for the first time in its history, with the second quarter likely to record the second successive quarter of GDP contraction. The contraction is ebbing with gradual normalisation in activities and expected to be short-lived.

Sitharaman's bouquet of measures under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat 3.0 stimulus package is expected to improve demand through a series of incentives. Employment generation is the key focus of the package.

The government has launched a subsidy support scheme to incentivise the creation of new employment opportunities during the Covid-19 recovery phase. The programme can be availed by any new employee joining employment in EPFO registered establishments on monthly wages less than Rs 15,000, and (ii) EPF members drawing monthly wages of less than Rs 15,000 who made exit from employment during the Covid-19 pandemic from 01 Mar-30 Sep and are employed after 01 Oct'20, SBI Ecowrap said.

Another measure announced by the finance minister is the Rs 65,000-crore fertiliser subsidy for farmers, which Sitharaman said is to ensure adequate availability of fertilisers to farmers and to enable timely accessibility of fertilisers in the upcoming crop season.

An additional outlay of Rs 18,000 crore for the urban housing scheme to help complete real estate projects in a bid to create jobs was also announced.

"The Centre and the RBI have together provided total fiscal stimulus of Rs 29.87 lakh crore since the Covid-19 pandemic began. This amount is 15% of India's GDP, Sitharaman said in a press conference in Delhi.

The ECLGS (emergency credit line guarantee scheme), which has so far performed well, has now been extended to Covide-19 impacted sectors listed in the Kamath Committee Report. ECLGS 2.0 can provide much needed relief to stressed sectors including auto component, constructions, gems & jewellery, hotel & restaurants, iron & steel, real estate, textile etc. by helping entities sustain employment and meet liabilities. "We believe potentially around 40,000 entities can benefit from the scheme. However, if the overall amount stays at Rs 3 lakh crore, the overall corpus of ECLGS 2.0 could be a constraining factor," SBI Ecowrap said.

The boost to housing continues even in third round. In order to provide further boost to housing and real estate, the government has provided additional Rs 18,000 crore to Prime Minister Awaas Yojana – Urban (PMAY-U) through additional allocation and extra budgetary resources. Real estate tinkering with tax incentives for home buyers could potentially unleash a price discovery in the real estate market.

The performance-linked incentive scheme has now been extended to 10 other sectors, including advance chemistry and cell battery, Electronics/technology products, Automobiles & Auto Components, Pharmaceutical drugs, etc. with a financial outlay of Rs 1.45 lakh crore over a period of 5 years, to support manufacturing and exports. Further support to EXIM Bank will also push project exports.

Here are some of the highlights:

- Rs 900 crore provided for Covid Suraksha Mission for research and development of the Indian Covid-19 vaccine to the Department of Biotechnology
- Rs 3,000 crore will be given to EXIM Bank for promotion of project exports through lines of credit under IDEAS Scheme.
-An additional outlay of Rs 10,000 crore will be provided for PM Garib Kalyan Rozgar Yojana in the current financial year, to boost rural employment.
- Rs 65,000 crore to be provided for subsidised fertlisers. This will help 140 million farmers.
-For primary residential real estate sales, relief on the difference between circle rate & agreement value up to 20% vs 10% earlier.
-Income tax relief for developers and home buyers.
-Support for Construction & Infrastructure-Performance security on contract to be reduced to 3% instead of 5%. Earnest Money Deposit will not be required for tenders and will be replaced by Bid Security Declaration. Relaxations will be given till 31st December 2021.
-This extra budgetary resource being provided will help 12 Lakh houses to be grounded & 18 Lakh houses will get completed as a result.
- Rs 18,000 crore will be provided over and above the budget estimate which was mentioned in the Budget 2020-21 under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. particularly for the urban areas
- Rs 1.46 lakh crore boost for Aatmanirbhar Manufacturing Production-linked incentive for 10 champion sectors.
-Guaranteed credit support for 26 stressed sectors identified by the Kamath Committee. Original ECLGS had one year of moratorium and 4 years of repayment, the new scheme will have 1-year moratorium and 5 years of repayment.
--The existing Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme extended till 31st March 2021.
-If new employees of requisite number are recruited from October 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021, the establishments will be covered for the next two years
-Every EPFO registered organisations - if they take in new employees or those who had lost jobs b/1 March 1 & Sep 30 - these employees will get benefits.
-Establishments registering with EPFO after the commencement of Scheme to get subsidy for all new employees. Scheme to be in operation till 30 June 2021.
-Pradhan Mantri Rozgar Protsahan Yojana was implemented up to 31.03.2019. It had covered all sectors and is expected to run for 3 years. So even if someone joined the scheme on 31.03.2019, they would be covered under that existing scheme from then three years
-Atmanirbhar Bharat 3.0 - Finance Minister announced new job scheme called Atma Nirbhar Rozgar Yojana to create jobs in the country. The new scheme will be effective from 1 October 2020
- Rs 1,32,800 crore have gone as income tax refunds to 39.7 lakh taxpayers
-SBI Utsav cards being distributed, under the festival advance scheme announced on 12th Oct11 states sanctioned Rs 3,621 crore as an interest-free loan towards capital expenditure
-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 7,227 crore disbursed under the Special Liquidity Scheme for NBFCs/HFC
-Credit boost has been given to 2.5 crore farmers through Kisan Credit Cards, Rs 1.4 lakh crore has been distributed to farmers.
- Rs 25,000 crore has been disbursed to farmers from Additional Emergency Working Capital Funding through NABARD.
-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 Rs 1,43,262 crore in two phases.
-26.2 lakh loan applications were received under the PM SVANidhi scheme for street vendors.

"The latest round of stimulus package by the government is a bouquet of measures that incentivises job creation in the informal sector, expands the supply of loanable funds through enlargement of credit guarantee scheme to support stressed sectors and a strong push to real estate, with tax incentives for home buyers that could potentially unleash a price discovery in the real estate market. The Government also proposes to enlarge the rural employment scheme that could continue to support rural recovery. The support for project exports could potentially widen the risk-taking capabilities of EXIM Bank. Overall, these measures will ensure that we continue to take steps towards a sustained economic recovery," said State Bank of India chairman Dinesh Khara.