NE NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 14
The government on Friday said that over Rs 10,000 crore for the fund to revive stalled real estate projects have been tied up, with 13 financial institutions including HDFC, SBI and LIC joining hands as part of the plan to set up the Rs 25,000 crore fund.
Chief economic adviser (CEA) Krishnamurthy Subramanian said several of the steps initiated in recent months had taken off, with disbursements under the partial guarantee scheme touching Rs 7,600 crore during the last two days. Similarly, a large chunk of the PSU and government dues to MSME too had been cleared in the last two months.
“Fund is fully operational and investment committee is completing due diligence on the first set of deals. The process has incorporated lessons from previous episodes of careless fiscal expansion,” Subramanian said as he gave an overview of the steps taken by the government to revive economic growth and their impact so far. Dues of state-run companies, both navratnas and maharatnas cleared by more than 60% in the last two months to get more money in the system.
Elaborating on the steps to boost spending, CEA said 66% of the budgeted capital expenditure of Rs 3.38 lakh crore had already been undertaken. He said the Railways, the highways ministry and select central public sector undertakings were also implementing their large capital expenditure plans.
Subramanian said continuous liberalisation had resulted in record foreign direct investment inflows of $35 billion in the first half of 2019-20 compared to $31 billion in the same period of 2018-19.
The Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and senior officials of the finance ministry addressed a news conference a day after data showed industrial output contracted for the third consecutive month in October and retail inflation soared to a 40-month high in November on the back of spiralling food prices.
“I will continue to address the problem of the industry as and when it is required,” Sitharaman said, underlining the government’s commitment to revive growth, which has slowed to a near six-year low.
Sitharaman said no discussion had been held in the finance ministry on any changes to the GST rates. “Buzz is everywhere other than my office,” she said but did not rule out any hike in GST rate. She said the finance ministry is yet to apply its mind to the issue.
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