Highlights of FM's eco booster announcement

The following are the measures announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday to boost economic growth and address distress in various sectors:

• Drops super-rich surcharge on FPIs, domestic investors on gains from stock market
• Upfront release of Rs 70,000 cr to PSBs; enhances lending capacity by Rs 5 lakh cr
• Banks to pass on rate cuts; to benefit all borrowers
• Reduction on EMIs for housing loans, vehicle and other retail loans
• To provide protection to honest decision-making by bankers for boosting lending
• Additional liquidity support to HFCs raised to Rs 30,000 cr
• Pending GST refunds to MSMEs to be paid within 30 days
• Amendment to MSME Act to move towards single definition to be considered
• Issue of IT orders, notices, etc through a centralised system to cut harassment
• Startups registered with DPIIT exempt from Income Tax, subject to certain conditions
• To set up a dedicated cell under CBDT for addressing the problems of startups
• BS-IV vehicles purchased till March 31, 2020 to be operational for registration period
• Allows additional 15 pc depreciation on all vehicles till March 31, 2020
• Delayed payments from Govt/CPSEs to be monitored by Expenditure Dept
• CSR violation not to be treated as criminal offence
• To set up an entity for credit enhancement for infrastructure, housing projects
• Task force to be set up to finalise the pipeline of infrastructure projects
• Further action on development of Credit Default Swap markets soon
• Simplification of KYC procedure to improve market access for foreign investors
• To announce more measures in the coming weeks for other sectors
• Announcement with regard to real estate sector to be made next week.

Photograph: ANI Photo.