Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Announces 15 Measures To Revive MSMEs, NBFCs & Real Estate Sectors

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman held a press conference to announce the measures going to be enforced by the central government for reviving the economy and providing much-need support to businesses.

Nirmala Sitharaman speaks during a news conference to unveiled a package worth Rs 20 lakh crores to stimulate Indi's economy. (Image: AFP)

New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday announced 15 measures to revive and support business under the mega stimulus package -- Self-Reliant India Movement -- which was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last evening. Giving detail about the measures, the minister said that six measures are exclusively meant for the MSME sector, while the others pertain to real estate, NBFCs and general businesses. Attempts have also been made via these measures to decrease the regulatory burden on companies, while increasing the take-home pay of employees. For the MSME sector, the minister detailed six measures including the new definition of the sector. Accordingly, the investment limit for defining MSMEs has been revised upwards. Besides, she highlighted that additional criteria such as turnover has been considered for defining MSMEs. The Centre has also decided not to go in for global bidding for government procurement for tenders up to Rs 200 crore, thereby, promoting the participation of MSMEs, she said. Furthermore, e-market linkage for MSMEs will also be provided and that CPSEs will pay all receivables to MSMEs within 45 days.

In a major relief for the real estate developers, the Union Ministry for Housing and Urban Affairs will issue advisory to states and union territories to declare the Covid-19 situation as a 'force majeure' under the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act.

WATCH: FM Nirmala Sitharaman's big announcements over 20L Cr economic package | Full PC Addressing the media here on Wednesday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also revealed that the Ministry for Housing and Urban Affairs would issue advisory to the states and union territories to the effect in a bid to provide relief to developers. With the move, the government has allowed suo-moto extension of the registration and completion date by six months for all registered project expiring on or after March 25, 2020 without individual applications. She said that regulatory authorities may extend this for another period of up to three months, if needed. Further, the fresh project registration certificates will be issued automatically with revised timelines. The Centre has also directed the extension of timelines for various statutory compliances under RERA concurrently. As per the government, these measures will de-stress real estate developers and ensure completion of projects so that home buyers are able to get delivery of their booked houses with new timelines. The announcement is part of the Rs 20 lakh crore economic package announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday evening.