In a series of incentives for affordable and middle class housing Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday announced a special window to provide last mile funding for such projects with a fund of Rs 20,000 crore.
The announcements come at a time the economy is grappling with a slowdown. In the most recent quarter, GDP growth slowed to a six-year low of 5%. Auto and real estate are among the sectors that have borne the brunt of the slowdown.
“A special window to provide last mile funding for housing projects, which are non-NPA and non-NCLT and are net worth positive in affordable and middle class housing to be set up,” the finance minister said.
The objective is to focus on unfinished projects with the government of India contributing Rs 10,000 crore while an equal amount will come from outside investors. . The finance minister added that the fund would be professionally run by experts from housing a banking sectors.
Sitharaman also announced a slew of measures to boost exports among them remission of duties or taxes on export products, particularly in textile dispensation. “:The Export Credit Guarantee Corp will expand scope of ECIS and offer higher insurance cover to banks lending working capital for exports in a move which will cost Rs 1700 crore per annum to the government,” said Sitharaman. Export finance will be actively monitored by an inter-ministerial working group in Dept of Commerce, tracked through a dashboard, she added.
In a bid to boost the industry, the FM also announced an annual mega shopping festival, on the lines of Dubai shopping festival, to boost small and medium scale enterprises.
Today’s announcements were third in the series of measure announced by the finance minister in the recent weeks. Earlier, government has announced a slew of measures, including front-loading of public expenditure, and improved access to credit for businesses and capital infusion into state-run banks to boost credit.
Source : HT
