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Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announces leave travel voucher, festival advance to boost consumer demand

The FM announced proposals regarding consumer spending and capital expenditure. She said the coronavirus pandemic has adversely affected the economy but the government’s Atmanirbhar Bharat package has addressed the needs of poor and weak sections of society.

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Nirmala-Sitharaman

Finance Minister Nirmala Sithraman on Monday announced proposals to ensure greater consumer spending to spur demand and thereby revitalise the economy by announcing a leave travel cash voucher scheme for government employees and those employed by PSUs and a special festival advance scheme. She said the coronavirus pandemic has affected the economy but the government’s Atmanirbhar Bharat package has addressed the needs of poor and weak sections of society. The supply constraints have eased but consumer demand is still affected, and these schemes will ensure greater demand, she said.

Finance Minister Sitharaman’s proposal to stimulate consumer demand in the economy which has two components. Proposals include:

> LTC Cash Voucher Scheme
> Special Festival Advance Scheme

LTC Cash Voucher Scheme:

LTC case voucher schema

-Government employees, many organised sector employees, have escaped economic effects of coronavirus pandemic. Their salaries have been protected and savings increased. The FM said the employees need to be incentivised to contribute to the revival of demand for the benefit of the less fortunate. The government employees will get LTC (Leave Travel  Concession) in a block of 4 years.

LTC case voucher schema

-Air or rail fare as per scale is reimbursed. Leave encashment of 10 days. Due to coronavirus pandemic, employees are not in a position to avail LTC in the current block of 2018-21

-An employee opting LTC Cash Voucher Scheme will have to buy goods and services worth three times the fare and one time leave encashment, and do so before March 31, 2021.

-Money must be spent on goods attracting GST of 12 percent through digital mode. An employee will also have to produce a GST invoice.The scheme would cost Rs 5,675 crore if central government employees opt for it. For PSB and PSU employees, its cost would be Rs 1,900 crore.

– Demand infusion in the economy by Central Government and Central PSE/PSB employees is estimated to be Rs. 19,000 crore approx. Demand infusion by state government employees will be Rs. 9,000 crore. Additional consumer demand generated will be Rs. 28,000 crore.

Special Festival Advance Scheme

LTC case voucher schema
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  • – Special Festival Advance scheme was abolished on the recommendations of 7th Pay Commission. It is to be restored for festivals till March 31, 2021. Interest fee advance of Rs. 10,000 to be recoverable in a maximum of 10 instalments. If given by all state governments Rs. 8,000 is crore likely to be disbursed. In case of 50 percent adoption by states, Rs. 4,000 crore is expected to be disbursed
  • – Employees will get a pre-loaded RuPay card and its bank charges will be covered by the government.  Capital expenditure to give special assistance to states.

Government will give special, interest free, 50-year loans to states for Rs. 12,000 crore capital expenditure. It is divided in 3 parts.

– 2,500 crore for North East,

– 7,500 crore for other states, in proportion to share in Finance Commission devolution (50% initially, balance after use of first instalment)

– 2,000 crore for states which meet at least three out of four reforms given in Atma Nirbhar fiscal deficit package.

– Rs 25,000 crore additional budget will be provided for spending on defence infrastructure, roads, water supply, urban development, domestically produced capital equipment.

A total of Rs 73,000 crore package has been anounced by Finance Minister Sitharaman to boost consumer demand.

  • – 36,000 crore additional consumer demand (Rs 28,000 crore through LTC,Rs. 8,000 crore through festival advance). Rs 37,000 crore central, state capital expenditure.

Economy news

Financial changes effective from September, Aadhaar update, nomination deadline for demat account

Some changes will take effect on the first day, while others will be implemented later in the month. This list will affect people’s finances.

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In the month of September, there are many changes occurring, particularly in the financial sector. Some changes will take effect on the first day, while others will be implemented later in the month. This list will affect people’s finances.

The deadline to update an individual’s Aadhaar card details for free is quickly approaching. The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) extended the deadline from June 14 to September 14, 2023. This scheme is specifically for citizens who obtained their Aadhaar card 10 years ago and have yet to update their information. People can take this opportunity to update their details before it’s too late.

The nomination process for trading and demat accounts is mandatory for holders and the deadline for this has been extended by the Security and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). The account holders have to make nominations or opt out of it before September 30.

People will need to update and link of Aadhaar identity documents with PAN cards. Those who have credit cards from Axis Bank will also experience the effects of these changes starting this month.

As per the updated terms and conditions, Axis Bank’s Magnus credit card users need to pay higher fees. The annual fee has been increased to Rs 12,500. Also, the benefits associated with the card will be updated.  

This month marks the final opportunity for individuals to exchange Rs 2,000 notes. As stated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in May, individuals may exchange or deposit these notes into their bank accounts before the specified deadline.

The central bank has specified that individuals may exchange or deposit for lower denomination notes, up to Rs 20,000 at a time, until September 30th. Interestingly, even after the deadline, Rs 2,000 notes will still be considered valid tender.

Starting from the current financial year, the Ministry of Finance has made it mandatory to provide both Permanent Account Number (PAN) and Aadhaar card information when making investments in small saving schemes such as the Public Provident Fund (PPF), Post Office Saving Scheme, and Senior Citizens Saving Scheme (SCSS). Existing subscribers must submit their Aadhaar number before September 30th, or their accounts will be frozen.

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India will remain on similar growth curve till 2030, expect well behaved inflation this fiscal: CEA

Chief Economic Adviser (CEA) V Anantha Nageswaran on Tuesday projected that India’s economy was poised to do better and expected to grow at 6.5-7 percent till the end of the decade.

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Economic Survey

Chief Economic Adviser (CEA) V Anantha Nageswaran on Tuesday projected that India’s economy was poised to do better and expected to grow at 6.5-7 percent till the end of the decade.

Nageswaran, while talking to the media after tabling of the Economic Survey in Parliament by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, said that the inflation is likely to be “well behaved” in the coming fiscal year barring any unforeseen factors.

According to the Economic Survey prepared by the CEA, RBI projection of retail inflation at 6.8 per cent in the current fiscal is neither too high to deter private consumption, nor too low as to weaken inducement to invest.

The Economic Survey for the current fiscal also state that the Indian economy is expected to hit a minor slow down to 6.5 percent in April 2023 but will continue to remain the fastest-growing major economy in the world owing to its ability to better deal with challenges faced by the global economy.

The CEA maintained that the projected growth rate would remain stable as long as oil prices stayed below 100 dollars per barrel. He also pointed out that the quality of public expenditure has gone up and the government has become more transparent with budget deficit numbers, adding that an increased transparency is being witnessed in public procurement.

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Nageswaran stressed that credit growth is picking up across sectors, and credit to MSMEs has grown at 30 per cent since January 2022, while NPAs in NBFCs is lower than what it was 15 months ago.

The CEA revealed that India is well ahead of its targets for renewable energy mix.

Earlier on Tuesday, the International Monetary Fund in its January update of the World Economic Outlook called India as a bright spot in an otherwise gloomy world economy which, together with China, will account for half of the global growth in 2023, compared to the US and Euro area, who account for just a 10th of the world’s growth.

The IMF report had made almost similar projections to the Economic Survey tabled by the government. It has projected India’s growth to dip slightly from 6.1 percent to 6.8 percent during the current fiscal year ending on March 31. IMF also expects some minor slowdown in the Indian economy in the next fiscal year.

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India a bright spot amid projected decline in global growth: IMF

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has projected India’s growth to dip slightly from 6.1 percent to 6.8 percent during the current fiscal year ending on March 31. IMF also expects some minor slowdown in the Indian economy in the next fiscal year.

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International Monetary Fund

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has projected India’s growth to dip slightly from 6.1 percent to 6.8 percent during the current fiscal year ending on March 31. IMF also expects some minor slowdown in the Indian economy in the next fiscal year.

According to the January update of the World Economic Outlook released by global fiscal body on Tuesday, global growth is projected to fall from a projected 3.4 percent in 2022 to 2.9 percent in 2023, then rise to 3.1 percent in 2024.

Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, Chief Economist and Director, Research Department of the IMF said in a statement that the IMF’s projections for India remain unchanged from its October update as they predict a 6.8 percent growth curve for the Indian economy for the current fiscal and an expected minor dip to 6.1 percent in the next fiscal.

According to the IMF World Economic Outlook, the slowdown is largely driven by external factors, adding that the India’s growth will once again see an upward curve and go up to 6.8 percent in 2024 due to resilient domestic demand despite external factors.

The report expects a rise in growth in developing Asian nations in 2023 and 2024 to 5.3 percent and 5.2 percent, respectively, after the slowdown in 2022 to 4.3 percent.

For the first time in the last four decades, China’s growth fell below the global average in the fourth quarter of 2022 which saw a 0.2 percentage point downgrade, settling at 3.0 percent. However, China’s growth is expected to rise to 5.2 percent in 2023 and fall to 4.5 percent in 2024 before settling at below 4 percent over the medium term amid declining business dynamism and slow progress on structural reforms.

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Gourinchas pointed out that emerging market economies and developing economies are already on the way up and have seen a slight rise in growth for the region from 3.9 percent in 2022 to 4 percent in 2023.

He stressed that India and China combined account for almost 50 percent of world growth in 2023, adding that IMF’s positive view on India’s growth curve remains unchanged.

Gourinchas in a blog post termed India as a bright spot which, together with China, will account for half of the global growth in 2023, compared to the US and Euro area, who account for just a 10th of the world’s growth.

Gourinchas also forecasted a much more pronounced slowdown for advanced economies with a decline from 2.7 percent last year to 1.2 percent and 1.4 percent this year and next.

Nine out of 10 advanced economies will likely decelerate, he added.

He predicted that the US’ growth will slow to 1.4 percent in 2023 as Federal Reserve interest-rate hikes work their way through the economy. Euro area conditions are more challenging despite signs of resilience to the energy crisis, a mild winter, and generous fiscal support, he said.

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