In a bid to arrest the current economic slowdown, Finance Nirmala Sitharaman is expected to announce further relief measures on September 14.
According to Press Information Bureau's (PIB) twitter, Sitharaman will address a press conference at 2.30 pm from the National Media Centre in New Delhi.
In the event, the Union Minister is expected to make announcement focusing upon boosting the realty and export sectors. She is likely to announce sector-specific solutions as well as broad-based relief measures, it said.
According to the report, Finance ministry officials made a detailed presentation of the measures to be announced to the Prime Minister’s office on September 13. The current round of measures have convinced the PMO, which feels that the measures will boost sentiment and current economic situation, the report added.
That brings us to the end of our live coverage from Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's press conference. We leave you with all the key takeaways from the press conference here. Stay tuned to Moneycontrol for more updates.
Amit Modi, Director ABA Corp and President Elect CREDAI western
UP, "We really appreciate the recent steps announced by the Finance Minister to boost the Housing Sector and are happy that certain provisions demanded by the Real Estate Sector since long, have finally been brought on paper, especially the direct linking of Repo Rates to interest rates as this was a constant complaint from both the Homebuyers and Real Estate Industry that while the RBI was reducing the rates at regular intervals, the banks were using it to shore up there bottom lines rather than passing it to the end consumers, hence Homebuyers were always left in the same situation.
We also welcome the additional deduction of up to Rs.1.5 lakhs interest paid on home loans for properties up to Rs.45lakhs, and will request the Finance Minister to provide the same benefits for the bigger base, since most of the population living in Metro cities like Mumbai and Delhi will never be able to find accommodationupto Rs. 45 lakhs.
Overall we really appreciate these and other steps taken by the government to boost the Housing sector and realise Prime Ministers vision of Housing for All 2022."
Parveen Aggarwal, Founder and Chairman, Signature Sattva
, "FM announced encouraging steps for the real estate sector especially the affordable segment, which has the maximum demand. Apart from contributing Rs 10,000 crore to complete construction of unfinished projects in affordable and middle income category housing, the FM announced relaxation of ECB guidelines for the affordable housing. By easing the financing for the home buyers, the government has paved the way for faster sale and possession of the projects. This will surely speed up the process of reaching the 'Housing for All' target."
Dhiraj Jain, Director, Mahagun Group
, "The biggest relief came in the garb of last mile funding where projects that are 60% complete will get funding through special window. It is expected that around 3.5 lakh stuck units will benefit from the decision. With this support from the government the market will become more potent and many buyers will get the possession of their homes soon. Additionally, many unsold units of these stuck projects will come in the market opening an options galore for the property seekers. We welcome the FM for taking such a decision that is going affect so many lives and ease out the burden of real estate sector."
Pradeep Aggarwal, Co-Founder & Chairman, Signature Global and Chairman - ASSOCHAM National Council on Real Estate, Housing and Urban Development
, "The latest announcement by Hon'ble Finance Minister of establishing a special window will go a long way in helping affordable and mid-income housing. The move will ensure that mid-income and affordable incomeprojects that are 60% complete and are non-NPA and non-NCLT, will witness faster completion thereby benefiting the buyers. It will also help the Government in achieving its objective of 'Housing for All by 2022'.
Today's announcements also indicate as Government's effort of boosting the affordable housing as it had also announcedin the budget an additional deduction of up to Rs 1.5 lakh for interest paid on home loans borrowed up to March 31, 2020 for purchase of house valued up to Rs 45 lakh. This s going to help increase the sale of affordable housing in tier II and tier III cities."
Mohit Goel, CEO, Omaxe Ltd
, "Finance Minister’s announcement of setting up special window of Rs 10,000 crore for projects, which are 60% complete and are non-NPA and non-NCLT, is likely to ensure speedy delivery of projects. Needless to say, the measures will play a pivotal role in enhancing the confidence of home buyers in the real estate sector.
Moreover, the prevailing yield on 10 year T-bills is hovering around 6.6-6.7%. The Government decision to link House Building Advance to it effectively means reduction of interest rate for government employees, which constitute the biggest chunk of home buyers. This also augurs well for the sector ahead of festive season."
Manoj Gaur, MD, Gaurs Group & Chairman, Affordable Housing Committee, CREDAI
, "Announcements by Hon'ble FM to boost housing sector is indeed welcome. Several mid-income and affordable housing projects which are witnessing slow progress due to lack of funds, will be expeditedas the result of setting up of special window having a corpus of Rs 10,000 crore. It should help faster delivery of close to3 - 3.5 dwelling units. The fact that the special window will be managed and monitored by professionals from housing and banking sector is another step in right direction. Also, govt decision to link housing building advance with yield on 10-year T-bill is likely to reduce effective interest rate for government employees, which should encourage them to buy new homes. Relaxation of ECB norms for affordable housing should also boost housing demand as the cost of funds will reduce for HFCs as a result of the move."
Mr. Mahesh Singhi, Founder & MD, Singhi Advisors
.“FM Sitharaman has made a series of announcements to redress consumer concerns and kickstart the investment cycle in the economy with a specific focus on the revival of real estate and boosting the export competitiveness of the country. The roll-out of the special funding window for affordable housing reiterates the government’s commitment to provide low cost funding to home buyers in the lower and middle income housing segment. The announcement of an automated e-assessment system and the complete removal of human interference will lead to improved tax compliance measures and with the assessment unit remaining anonymous, instances of taxpayer harassment will be significantly reduced. The deployment of a fully electronic refund module for automated refunds of Input Tax Credit will accelerate the processing of refunds and place higher capital at the disposal of traders and businessmen.”
S Ranganathan,Head of Research at LKP Securities says, "Measures to Boost Housing is a positive for Mortgage Companies in our view. Special Window to provide the much needed last mile funding for Housing Projects which are non-NPA and non-NCLT would also enable completion of unfinished homes. Moreover the relaxation of ECB guidelines for Affordable Housing including interest rates on house building advance is a good step. Exporters in labour intensive sectors should be happy with the new RODTEP scheme from 01-01-2020 as it proposes to more than adequately incentivise exporters. Speedy ITC refunds and higher insurance cover for exporters should help in our view".
FM Nirmala Sitharaman announces Rs 10,000cr fund for last-mile funding of stuck housing projects
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on September 14 announced a special window worth Rs 10,000 crore for last-mile funding of non-NPA and non-NCLT housing projects.... Read More
Government announces steps to boost housing, facilitate homebuyers
The government on Saturday announced a Rs 10,000 crore special window to provide last-mile funding for completion of ongoing housing projects which are not NPAs or facing bankruptcy proceedings under NCLT.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman:
Fund of 10,000 crore to be contributed by Government of India (GoI) and roughly same amount from outside investors.
FM Nirmala Sitharaman:
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows are robust as of now and there is a sign of revival. Forex reserves (Foreign exchange reserves) have gone up particularly in August end.
FM Nirmala Sitharaman on non-NPA and non-NCLT projects will benefit from 10,000 crore fund:
About 3 lakh to 3.5 lakh projects all over the country will benefit from this fund.
A special window for affordable and mid-income housing
– A special window will provide the last-mile funding requirement for housing projects that are non-NPA and non-NCLT projects and are stuck due to lack of funding. This will be set up with a fund size of Rs 10,000 crore funded by the government. This window will be run by complete professional drawn from marketplace and domain specialists like banking or housing finance specialists. They will identify such projects that are affordable and middle-income projects that are low of funding and nearing completion. So that people invested in houses and waiting for possession do not have to wait longer. Wherever housing projects are stuck can now seek relief so as they are not an NPA and not in NCLT.
Will meet bankers on September 19 to discuss on status of measures announced to increase liquidity measures for HFCs, and repo-linked lending rates.
There will be a relaxation in ECB guidelines to facilitate the financing of homebuyers eligible under PMAY. This is in addition to existing norms for External Commercial Borrowings (ECB).
Announcement made in Union Budget 2019 – Had announced additional deduction of up to 1.5 lakh on interest paid on loan borrowed for the purchase of house valued up to Rs 45 lakh.
A brief summary of steps taken by Government so far to realise Affordable Housing
FM Nirmala Sitharaman:
Data on export finance is regularly published by RBI. But now an interministerial working group will monitor export finance activity and Department of Commerce will run the Internal Working Group (IWG)
Priority sector lending norms for MSME – Additional 36,000-68,000 crore will be released to ensure higher credit availability for exports."This will release an additional Rs 36,000 crore to Rs 68,000 crore as export credit under priority sector," said FM Sitharaman.
In another measure to boost exports, Nirmala Sitharaman announced that there shall be time bound adoption by industry of all necessary mandatory technical standards. Effective enforcement will elevate quality and performance, enhance competitiveness and address issue of sub-standard imports, said the FM.
ON Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), FM Nirmala Sitharaman announced that the government to set up FTA Utilisation Mission headed by a senior officer in Dept of Commerce, to work with FIEO and export houses to utilise concessional tariffs in each FTA.
FM Nirmala Sitharaman:
Government working to reduce 'Time to export' by leveraging technology further; Action Plan to reduce turn around time at airports and ports benchmarked to international standards to be implemented by Dec 2019 and Inter-Ministerial group to monitor this.
FM Nirmala Sitharaman:
India shall hold an annual mega shopping festival, like the one held in Dubai. It shall happen by March 2020. It will benefit, tourism, small and medium enterprises and export sector.
FM Nirmala Sitharaman:
There is a removal of human interference in tax assessment, which will be completely automated. The assessment unit will be anonymous.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman:
Export Credit Guarantee Corporation will expand the scope of ECIS and offer higher insurance cover to banks lending working capital for exports in a move which is expected to cost Rs 1,700 crores per annum to the government.
FM Nirmala Sitharaman:
Transmission of interest rate cuts is being effected by banks. I will meet heads of public sector lenders on September 19 to review the transmission.
FM Nirmala Sitharaman:
The scheme of Remission of Duties or Taxes on Export Products (RoDTEP) is a new scheme, it shall completely replace all Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) from January 1, 2020.
FM Nirmala Sitharaman:
Partial credit guarantee scheme for banks benefitted 7 Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) so far.
A quick follow up on announcements made so far to fuel economic growth
FM Nirmala Sitharaman:
The signs of revival are very encouraging. Annual fixed investment rate is going up and inflation has been kept under 4 percent.
FM Nirmala Sitharaman:
As promised earlier, we have come before you to announce some measures for housing and export sectors that are being periodically formulated based on nationwide consultation.
FM press conference update |
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman addresses the media in Delhi.
FM Nirmala Sitharaman will announce setting up a Credit Guarantee Enhancement Corporation in 2019-20 with Rs 10,000/15,000 crore, CNBC-TV18 has reported quoting sources.
Amid concerns about the economic slowdown in the country, FM Nirmala Sitharaman is expected to announce more measure and other important decision during the press conference
The economic growth hit a six-year low of 5 percent for the first quarter of the current fiscal and the government has announced a slew of measures to reinvigorate the sagging growth.
There have been demands pouring in from various sectors from biscuits to automobiles and FMCG to hotels to reduce tax rates in the wake of perceived economic slowdown, the official told news agency PTI.
In recent weeks, the government has announced a slew of economic measures including the mega bank mergers, withdrawal of higher surcharge on Foreign portfolio investments (FPIs) and domestic investors, sops for infrastructure, revival package for the auto industry and relief for startups.
In the press conference today, the Finance Ministermight announce sector-specific solutions as well as broad-based relief measures. (CNBC-TV18)
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is set to announce further relief measures for the economy to battle the current economic slowdown, CNBC-TV18 has reported, quoting sources.
Good morning! Welcome to Moneycontrol’s LIVE coverage of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's press conference. Stay tuned for the key updates.
