FM Sitharaman to unveil final tranche of Rs 20 lakh crore package; summary thus far here

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will address the media on Sunday, May 17, at 11 am and unveil the final tranche of the Rs 20 lakh crore economic package that was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He had said that the FM will gradually provide the details of the economic relief package that, along with measures rolled out by the Reserve Bank of India, is worth Rs 20 lakh crore.

Previous four tranches 

The Finance Minister on Saturday announced structural reforms in eight sectors in the fourth tranche of its economic package amid Coronavirus lockdown. The reforms introduced affect 8 sectors namely - Coal, defence production, minerals, civil aviation (Airports, Airspace Mgmt & MRO), power distribution in UTs, Space and atomic energy. The steps include Commercial mining in the coal sector, seamless exploration-cum-mining-cum-production regime in the mineral sector, corporatisation not privatisation of Ordnance Factory Board, overhauling of Airspace management, making India an MRO hub and auctioning of airports, privatisation of Power distribution in Union territories, Rs. 8000 crores to revamp social infrastructure, private participation boost in space exploration and several reforms in the atomic sector.

On Friday, the FM had unveiled the third tranche with 11 measures focused on agriculture, animal husbandry and fishing -  schemes to finance farming infrastructure, micro food enterprises, fishermen, animal health, dairy infrastructure, herbal cultivation, bee-keeping and food supply chain management along with an amendment to the Essential Commodities Act, Central law for Agriculture marketing reforms and e-trading of agriculture produce.

Read: Defence Sector gets 'Make in India' boost in Centre's fourth tranche of Stimulus 2.0

The second tranche was announced on Thursday with nine measures -  free food grains, nationalised ration card, affordable rental housing for urban poor - all aimed at India's migrant population. The Centre also extended several schemes for housing, street vendors and housing to provide relief till March 2021.

Meanwhile, the first tranche was announced on Wednesday that involved MSME reforms of 3 lakh crore collateral-free automatic loans for businesses, Rs. 50,000 crore equity infusion in MSME Fund, redefining 'MSME', disallowing global tenders up to Rs 200 crores, Rs.30,000 crore liquidity facility for NBFCs/HFCs/MFIs, Rs.90,000 crore liquidity injection for DISCOMs among a few.

Read: Congress terms Centre's economic tranche 'numerical bombshells'; demands cash transfer

Read: What a 'package'!: Left's Sitaram Yechury tears into first tranche of Rs 20 lakh cr relief