Budget 2021: Here's the full text of FM Nirmala Sitharaman's speech

FM Nirmala Sitharaman on February 1 presented the Budget, touted as the biggest in the history of this country.

Here’s the full text of FM Nirmala Sitharaman’s speech:

Hon’ble Speaker, I present the Budget for the year 2021-2022.

Introduction

1. Honourable Speaker, the preparation of this Budget was undertaken in circumstances like never before. We knew of calamities that have affected a country or a region within a country, but what we have endured with COVID-19 through 2020 is sui generis.

2. When I presented the Budget 2020-21, we could not have imagined that the global economy, already in throes of a slowdown, would be pushed into an unprecedented contraction.

3. We could not have also imagined then that our people as those in other countries would have to endure the loss of near and dear ones and suffer hardships brought about due to a health crisis.

4. The risk of not having a lockdown was far too high. Within 48 hours of declaring a three-week-long complete lockdown, the Prime Minister announced the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana, valued at Rs 2.76 lakh crores – this provided, free food grain to 800 million people, free cooking gas for 80 million families for months, and cash directly to over 400 million farmers, women, elderly, the poor and the needy.

5. Even as a large section of citizens stayed home, milk, vegetable, and fruit-suppliers, health and sanitary workers, truck drivers, railways and public transport workers, bank employees, electricity workers, our annadatas, police, firemen, and the armed forces, all had to go about their work as normal, but with the additional anxiety of the virus hanging over them. We recognise this, and I think I speak on behalf of everybody in this august House, when I express my heartfelt gratitude to these men and women, for how they were able to carry out their work and duty, to provide for the nation’s basics, over those crucial months.

6. Speaker Sir, for public good, Honourable Members of Parliament and Members of Legislative Assemblies too offered their salaries.

7. In May 2020, the government announced the AtmaNirbhar Bharat package (ANB 1.0). To sustain the recovery, further into the year, we also rolled out two more AtmaNirbhar Bharat packages (ANB 2.0 and ANB 3.0). Total financial impact of all AtmaNirbhar Bharat packages including measures taken by RBI was estimated to about `27.1 lakh crores which amounts to more than 13% of GDP.

8. As a government, we kept a watch on the situation and were proactive in our responses. The government, led by the Prime Minister, stretched its resources to deliver for most vulnerable sections of our society – the poorest of the poor, the Dalits, Tribals, the elderly, the migrant workers, and our children. The PMGKY, the three ANB packages, and announcements made later were like five mini-budgets in themselves.

9. The AtmaNirbhar Packages accelerated our pace of structural reforms. Redefinition of MSMEs, Commercialisation of the Mineral Sector, Agriculture and Labour Reforms, Privatisation of Public Sector Undertakings, One Nation One Ration Card, and Production Linked Incentive Schemes are some of the notable reforms carried out during this period. Faceless Income Tax Assessment, DBT and Financial Inclusion are the others. 10. Today, India has two vaccines available, and has begun medically safeguarding not only her own citizens against COVID-19, but also those of 100 or more countries. It is added comfort to know that two or more vaccines are also expected soon.

11. Honourable Prime Minister launched the vaccination drive by crediting and thanking our scientists. We are ever grateful for the strength and rigour of their efforts.
12. Having said that, we are all reminded time and again that our fight against COVID-19 continues into 2021.

13. Now, just as it had happened after the two World Wars, there are signs that the political, economic, and strategic relations in the post COVID world are changing. This moment in history is the dawn of a new era – one in which India is well-poised to truly be the land of promise and hope. ‘

‘Faith is the bird that feels the light and sings when the dawn is still dark”. -Rabindranath Tagore (Fireflies – A Collection of Aphorisms)

14. In this spirit, I can’t help but recall the joy that we, as a cricket-loving nation, felt after Team India’s recent spectacular success in Australia. It has reminded us of all the qualities that we as a people, particularly our youth, epitomise of having abundant promise and the unsuppressed thirst to perform and succeed.

15. Today, data shows that India now has one of the lowest death rate of 112 per million population and one of the lowest active cases of about 130 per million. This has laid the foundation to the revival we are seeing now in the economy.

16. This Budget will be the first of this new decade. This Budget will also be a digital Budget and that has happened with all your support.

17. So far, only three times has a Budget followed a contraction in the economy. All such contractions were as a result of situations typical to India. This time, the contraction in our economy is due to a global pandemic, just like in several other countries.

18. Having said that, I want to confidently state that our Government is fully prepared to support and facilitate the economy’s reset. This Budget provides every opportunity for our economy to raise and capture the pace that it needs for sustainable growth.

19. 2021 is the year of many important milestones for our history. I mention a few of these: It is the 75th year of Independence; 60 years of Goa’s accession to India; 50 years of the 1971 India-Pakistan War; it will be the year of the 8th Census of Independent India; it will also be India’s turn at the BRICS Presidency; the year for our Chandrayaan-3 Mission; and the Haridwar Maha Kumbh.

20. Honourable Speaker, before I commence Part A of the Budget, I want to take a moment to acknowledge how isolating and distancing seemed like insurmountable challenges for a country like ours that has people coming together in times of crises. It hurt us in many ways. I bow my head in respect to every citizen, for the endurance shown in facing what was an undeniably a tough year for all our physical and mental well-being.

PART A

21. In Part A, I wish to lay a vision for AtmaNirbhar Bharat.

22. AtmaNirbharta is not a new idea. Ancient India was largely selfreliant, and equally, a business epicentre of the world.

23. AtmaNirbhar Bharat is an expression of 130 crores Indians who have full confidence in their capabilities and skills.

24. We are already part of International groupings such as the G20 and BRICS. The Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure and the International Solar alliance are realities today due to India’s efforts.

25. The proposals in Part A will further strengthen the sankalp of Nation First, Doubling Farmer’s Income, Strong Infrastructure, Healthy India, Good Governance, Opportunities for Youth, Education for All, Women Empowerment, and Inclusive Development, among others.

26. Additionally, also on the path to fast-implementation are the 13 promises we had made in the Budget of 2015-16 which were to materialise during the Amrut Mahotsav of 2022, on the 75th year of our Independence. They too resonate with this vision of AtmaNirbharta.

27. The Budget proposals for 2021-2022 rest on 6 pillars. i. Health and Wellbeing ii. Physical & Financial Capital, and Infrastructure, iii. Inclusive Development for Aspirational India iv. Reinvigorating Human Capital v. Innovation and R&D vi. Minimum Government and Maximum Governance

1. Health and Wellbeing

28. Even at the outset, I would like to say that the investment on Health Infrastructure in this Budget has increased substantially. Progressively, as institutions absorb more, we shall commit more.

29. Taking a holistic approach to Health, we focus on strengthening three areas: Preventive, Curative, and Wellbeing. Health Systems

30. A new centrally sponsored scheme, PM AtmaNirbhar Swasth Bharat Yojana, will be launched with an outlay of about Rs 64,180 crores over 6 years. This will develop capacities of primary, secondary, and tertiary care Health Systems, strengthen existing national institutions, and create new institutions, to cater to detection and cure of new and emerging diseases. This will be in addition to the National Health Mission. The main interventions under the scheme are:

a) Support for 17,788 rural and 11,024 urban Health and Wellness Centers

b) Setting up integrated public health labs in all districts and 3382 block public health units in 11 states;

c) Establishing critical care hospital blocks in 602 districts and 12 central institutions;

d) Strengthening of the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), its 5 regional branches and 20 metropolitan health surveillance units;

e) Expansion of the Integrated Health Information Portal to all States/UTs to connect all public health labs;

f) Operationalisation of 17 new Public Health Units and strengthening of 33 existing Public Health Units at Points of Entry, that is at 32 Airports, 11 Seaports and 7 land crossings;

g) Setting up of 15 Health Emergency Operation Centers and 2 mobile hospitals; and

h) Setting up of a national institution for One Health, a Regional Research Platform for WHO South East Asia Region, 9 Bio-Safety Level III laboratories and 4 regional National Institutes for Virology.

Nutrition

31. To strengthen nutritional content, delivery, outreach, and outcome, we will merge the Supplementary Nutrition Programme and the Poshan Abhiyan and launch the Mission Poshan 2.0. We shall adopt an intensified strategy to improve nutritional outcomes across 112 Aspirational Districts.

Universal Coverage of Water Supply

32. The World Health Organisation has repeatedly stressed the importance of clean water, sanitation, and clean environment, as a pre requisite to achieving universal health.

33. The Jal Jeevan Mission (Urban), will be launched. It aims at universal water supply in all 4,378 Urban Local Bodies with 2.86 crores household tap connections, as well as liquid waste management in 500 AMRUT cities. It will be implemented over 5 years, with an outlay of RS 2,87,000 crores.

Swachch Bharat, Swasth Bharat

34. For further swachhta of urban India, we intend to focus on complete faecal sludge management and waste water treatment, source segregation of garbage, reduction in single-use plastic, reduction in air pollution by effectively managing waste from construction-and-demolition activities and bio-remediation of all legacy dump sites. The Urban Swachh Bharat Mission 2.0 will be implemented with a total financial allocation of `1,41,678 crores over a period of 5 years from 2021-2026.

Clean Air

35. To tackle the burgeoning problem of air pollution, I propose to provide an amount of Rs 2,217 crores for 42 urban centres with a million-plus population in this budget.

Scrapping Policy

36. We are separately announcing a voluntary vehicle scrapping policy, to phase out old and unfit vehicles. This will help in encouraging fuelefficient, environment friendly vehicles, thereby reducing vehicular pollution and oil import bill. Vehicles would undergo fitness tests in automated fitness centres after 20 years in case of personal vehicles, and after 15 years in case of commercial vehicles. Details of the scheme will be separately shared by the Ministry.

Vaccines

37. The Pneumococcal Vaccine, a Made in India product, is presently limited to only 5 states will be rolled out across the country. This will avert more than 50,000 child deaths annually.

38. I have provided Rs 35,000 crores for Covid-19 vaccine in BE 2021-22. I am committed to provide further funds if required.

39. The Budget outlay for Health and Wellbeing is `2,23,846 crores in BE 2021-22 as against this year’s BE of Rs 94,452 crores an increase of 137 percentage. The details of the same are at Annexure I of the Speech.

2. Physical and Financial Capital and Infrastructure

AtmaNirbhar Bharat – Production Linked Incentive scheme (PLI)

40. For a USD 5 trillion economy, our manufacturing sector has to grow in double digits on a sustained basis. Our manufacturing companies need to become an integral part of global supply chains, possess core competence and cutting-edge technology. To achieve all of the above, PLI schemes to create manufacturing global champions for an AtmaNirbhar Bharat have been announced for 13 sectors. For this, the government has committed nearly Rs 1.97 lakh crores, over 5 years starting FY 2021-22. This initiative will help bring scale and size in key sectors, create and nurture global champions and provide jobs to our youth.

Textiles

41. To enable the textile industry to become globally competitive, attract large investments and boost employment generation, a scheme of Mega Investment Textiles Parks (MITRA) will be launched in addition to the PLI scheme. This will create world class infrastructure with plug and play facilities to enable create global champions in exports. 7 Textile Parks will be established over 3 years.

Infrastructure

42. The National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) which I announced in December 2019 is the first-of-its-kind, whole-of-government exercise ever undertaken by Government of India. The NIP was launched with 6835 projects; the project pipeline has now expanded to 7,400 projects. Around 217 projects worth Rs 1.10 lakh crores under some key infrastructure Ministries have been completed.

43. The NIP is a specific target which this government is committed to achieving over the coming years. It will require a major increase in funding both from the government and the financial sector. In this Budget, I propose to take concrete steps to do this, in three ways:

44. Firstly, by creating the institutional structures; secondly, by a big thrust on monetizing assets, and thirdly by enhancing the share of capital expenditure in central and state budgets.

Infrastructure financing – Development Financial Institution (DFI)

45. Infrastructure needs long term debt financing. A professionally managed Development Financial Institution is necessary to act as a provider, enabler and catalyst for infrastructure financing. Accordingly, I shall introduce a Bill to set up a DFI. I have provided a sum of Rs 20,000 crores to capitalise this institution. The ambition is to have a lending portfolio of at least Rs 5 lakh crores for this DFI in three years time.

46. Debt Financing of InVITs and REITs by Foreign Portfolio Investors will be enabled by making suitable amendments in the relevant legislations. This will further ease access of finance to InVITS and REITs thus augmenting funds for infrastructure and real estate sectors.

Asset Monetisation

47. Monetizing operating public infrastructure assets is a very important financing option for new infrastructure construction. A “National Monetization Pipeline” of potential brownfield infrastructure assets will be launched. An Asset Monetization dashboard will also be created for tracking the progress and to provide visibility to investors. Some important measures in the direction of monetisation are:

a. National Highways Authority of India and PGCIL each have sponsored one InvIT that will attract international and domestic institutional investors. Five operational roads with an estimated enterprise value of ` 5,000 crores are being transferred to the NHAI InvIT. Similarily, transmission assets of a value of `7,000 crores will be transferred to the PGCIL InvIT.

b. Railways will monetise Dedicated Freight Corridor assets for operations and maintenance, after commissioning.

c. The next lot of Airports will be monetised for operations and management concession.

d. Other core infrastructure assets that will be rolled out under the Asset Monetization Programme are: (i) NHAI Operational Toll Roads (ii) Transmission Assets of PGCIL (iii) Oil and Gas Pipelines of GAIL, IOCL and HPCL (iv) AAI Airports in Tier II and III cities, (v) Other Railway Infrastructure Assets (vi) Warehousing Assets of CPSEs such as Central Warehousing Corporation and NAFED among others and (vii) Sports Stadiums.

Sharp Increase in Capital Budget

48. In the BE 2020-21, we had provided Rs 4.12 lakh crores for Capital Expenditure. It was our effort that in spite of resource crunch we should spend more on capital and we are likely to end the year at around Rs 4.39 lakh crores which I have provided in the RE 2020-21. For 2021-22, I propose a sharp increase in capital expenditure and thus have provided Rs 5.54 lakh crores which is 34.5% more than the BE of 2020-21. Of this, I have kept a sum of more than Rs 44,000 crores in the Budget head of the Department of Economic Affairs to be provided for projects/programmes/departments that show good progress on Capital Expenditure and are in need of further funds. Over and above this expenditure, we would also be providing more than Rs 2 lakh crores to States and Autonomous Bodies for their Capital Expenditure.

49. We will also work out specific mechanisms to nudge States to spend more of their budget on creation of infrastructure.

Roads and Highways Infrastructure

50. More than 13,000 km length of roads, at a cost of Rs 3.3 lakh crores, has already been awarded under the Rs 5.35 lakh crores Bharatmala Pariyojana project of which 3,800 kms have been constructed. By March 2022, we would be awarding another 8,500 kms and complete an additional 11,000 kms of national highway corridors.

51. To further augment road infrastructure, more economic corridors are also being planned. Some are:

a. 3,500 km of National Highway works in the state of Tamil Nadu at an investment of `1.03 lakh crores. These include Madurai-Kollam corridor, Chittoor-Thatchur corridor. Construction will start next year.

b. 1,100 km of National Highway works in the State of Kerala at an investment of Rs 65,000 crores including 600 km section of Mumbai-Kanyakumari corridor in Kerala.

c. 675 km of highway works in the state of West Bengal at a cost of `25,000 crores including upgradation of existing road-Kolkata – Siliguri.

d. National Highway works of around Rs 19,000 crores are currently in progress in the State of Assam. Further works of more than Rs 34,000 crores covering more than 1300 kms of National Highways will be undertaken in the State in the coming three years.

52. Some of the flagship corridors and other important projects that would see considerable activity in 2021-22 are in Annexure-II.

53. I am also providing an enhanced outlay of `1,18,101 lakh crores for Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, of which Rs 1,08,230 crores is for capital, the highest ever.

Railway Infrastructure

54. Indian Railways have prepared a National Rail Plan for India – 2030. The Plan is to create a ‘future ready’ Railway system by 2030. 55. Bringing down the logistic costs for our industry is at the core of our strategy to enable ‘Make in India’. It is expected that Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) and Eastern DFC will be commissioned by June 2022.

The following additional initiatives are proposed:

a) The Sonnagar – Gomoh Section (263.7 km) of Eastern DFC will be taken up in PPP mode in 2021-22. Gomoh-Dankuni section of 274.3 km will also be taken up in short succession.

b) We will undertake future dedicated freight corridor projects namely East Coast corridor from Kharagpur to Vijayawada, East-West Corridor from Bhusaval to Kharagpur to Dankuni and North-South corridor from Itarsi to Vijayawada. Detailed Project Reports will be undertaken in the first phase.

c) Broad Gauge Route Kilometers (RKM) electrified is expected to reach 46,000 RKM i.e., 72% by end of 2021 from 41,548 RKM on 1st Oct 2020. 100% electrification of Broad-Gauge routes will be completed by December, 2023.

56. For Passenger convenience and safety the following measures are proposed:

a. We will introduce the aesthetically designed Vista Dome LHB coach on tourist routes to give a better travel experience to passengers.

b. The safety measures undertaken in the past few years have borne results. To further strengthen this effort, high density network and highly utilized network routes of Indian railways will be provided with an indigenously developed automatic train protection system that eliminates train collision due to human error.

c. I am providing a record sum of `1,10,055 crores, for Railways of which Rs 1,07,100 crores is for capital expenditure.

Urban Infrastructure

57. We will work towards raising the share of public transport in urban areas through expansion of metro rail network and augmentation of city bus service. A new scheme will be launched at a cost of Rs 18,000 crores to support augmentation of public bus transport services. The scheme will facilitate deployment of innovative PPP models to enable private sector players to finance, acquire, operate and maintain over 20,000 buses. The scheme will boost the automobile sector, provide fillip to economic growth, create employment opportunities for our youth and enhance ease of mobility for urban residents.

58. A total of 702 km of conventional metro is operational and another 1,016 km of metro and RRTS is under construction in 27 cities. Two new technologies i.e., ‘MetroLite’ and ‘MetroNeo’ will be deployed to provide metro rail systems at much lesser cost with same experience, convenience and safety in Tier-2 cities and peripheral areas of Tier-1 cities.

59. Central counterpart funding will be provided to: a. Kochi Metro Railway Phase-II of 11.5 km at a cost of Rs 1957.05 crores. b. Chennai Metro Railway Phase-II of 118.9 km at a cost of Rs 63,246 crores. c. Bengaluru Metro Railway Project Phase 2A and 2B of 58.19 km at a cost of Rs 14,788 crores. d. Nagpur Metro Rail Project Phase-II and Nashik Metro at a cost of Rs 5,976 crores and Rs 2,092 crores respectively.

Power Infrastructure

60. The past 6 years have seen a number of reforms and achievements in the power sector. We have added 139 Giga Watts of installed capacity, connected an additional 2.8 crores households and added 1.41 lakh circuit km of transmission lines.

61. The distribution companies across the country are monopolies, either government or private. There is a need to provide choice to consumers by promoting competition. A framework will be put in place to give consumers alternatives to choose from among more than one Distribution Company.

62. The viability of Distribution Companies is a serious concern. A revamped reforms-based result-linked power distribution sector scheme will be launched with an outlay of `3,05,984 crores over 5 years. The scheme will provide assistance to DISCOMS for Infrastructure creation including pre-paid smart metering and feeder separation, upgradation of systems, etc., tied to financial improvements.

63. Prime Minister, while speaking at the 3rd Re-inVest Conference in November 2020, had announced plans to launch a comprehensive National Hydrogen Energy Mission. It is now proposed to launch a Hydrogen Energy Mission in 2021-22 for generating hydrogen from green power sources. Ports, Shipping, Waterways

64. Major Ports will be moving from managing their operational services on their own to a model where a private partner will manage it for them. For the purpose, 7 projects worth more than Rs 2,000 crores will be offered by the Major Ports on Public Private Partnership mode in FY21-22.

65. A scheme to promote flagging of merchant ships in India will be launched by providing subsidy support to Indian shipping companies in global tenders floated by Ministries and CPSEs. An amount of Rs 1624 crores will be provided over 5 years. This initiative will enable greater training and employment opportunities for Indian seafarers besides enhancing Indian companies share in global shipping.

66. India has enacted Recycling of Ships Act, 2019 and acceded to the Hong Kong International Convention. Around 90 ship recycling yards at Alang in Gujarat have already achieved HKC-compliant certificates. Efforts will be made to bring more ships to India from Europe and Japan. Recycling capacity of around 4.5 Million Light Displacement Tonne (LDT) will be doubled by 2024. This is expected to generate an additional 1.5 lakh jobs for our youth.

Petroleum & Natural Gas

67. Our government has kept fuel supplies running across the country without interruption during the COVID-19 lockdown period. Taking note of the crucial nature of this sector in people’s lives, the following key initiatives are being announced:

a. Ujjwala Scheme which has benefited 8 crores households will be extended to cover 1 crores more beneficiaries.

b. We will add 100 more districts in next 3 years to the City Gas Distribution network.

c. A gas pipeline project will be taken up in Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir

d. An independent Gas Transport System Operator will be set up for facilitation and coordination of booking of common carrier capacity in all-natural gas pipelines on a non-discriminatory open access basis.

Financial Capital

68. I propose to consolidate the provisions of SEBI Act, 1992, Depositories Act, 1996, Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act, 1956 and Government Securities Act, 2007 into a rationalized single Securities Markets Code.

69. The Government would support the development of a world class Fin-Tech hub at the GIFT-IFSC.

70. To instill confidence amongst the participants in the Corporate Bond Market during times of stress and to generally enhance secondary market liquidity, it is proposed to create a permanent institutional framework. The proposed body would purchase investment grade debt securities both in stressed and normal times and help in the development of the Bond market.

71. In the budget of 2018-19, Government had announced its intent to establish a system of regulated gold exchanges in the country. For the purpose, SEBI will be notified as the regulator and Warehousing Development and Regulatory Authority will be strengthened to set up a commodity market eco system arrangement including vaulting, assaying, logistics etc in addition to warehousing.

72. Towards investor protection, I propose to introduce an investor charter as a right of all financial investors across all financial products.

73. To give a further boost to the non-conventional energy sector, I propose to provide additional capital infusion of `1,000 crores to Solar Energy Corporation of India and Rs 1,500 crores to Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency. Increasing FDI in Insurance Sector

74. I propose to amend the Insurance Act, 1938 to increase the permissible FDI limit from 49% to 74% in Insurance Companies and allow foreign ownership and control with safeguards. Under the new structure, the majority of Directors on the Board and key management persons would be resident Indians, with at least 50% of Directors being Independent Directors, and specified percentage of profits being retained as general reserve. Stressed Asset Resolution by setting up a New Structure

75. The high level of provisioning by public sector banks of their stressed assets calls for measures to clean up the bank books. An Asset Reconstruction Company Limited and Asset Management Company would be set up to consolidate and take over the existing stressed debt and then manage and dispose of the assets to Alternate Investment Funds and other potential investors for eventual value realization.

Recapitalization of PSBs

76. To further consolidate the financial capacity of PSBs, further recapitalization of Rs 20,000 crores is proposed in 2021-22. Deposit Insurance

77. Last year, Government had approved an increase in the Deposit Insurance cover from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakhs for bank customers. I shall be moving amendments to the DICGC Act, 1961 in this Session itself to streamline the provisions, so that if a bank is temporarily unable to fulfil its obligations, the depositors of such a bank can get easy and time-bound access to their deposits to the extent of the deposit insurance cover. This would help depositors of banks that are currently under stress.

78. To improve credit discipline while continuing to protect the interest of small borrowers, for NBFCs with minimum asset size of Rs 100 crores, the minimum loan size eligible for debt recovery under the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest (SARFAESI) Act, 2002 is proposed to be reduced from the existing level of Rs 50 lakhs to Rs 20 lakhs. Company Matters

79. The decriminalizing of the procedural and technical compoundable offences under the Companies Act, 2013, is now complete. I now propose to next take up decriminalization of the Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) Act, 2008.

80. Sir, I propose to revise the definition under the Companies Act, 2013 for Small Companies by increasing their thresholds for Paid up capital from “not exceeding Rs 50 Lakh” to “not exceeding Rs 2 Crore” and turnover from “not exceeding `2 Crore” to “not exceeding Rs 20 Crore”. This will benefit more than two lakh companies in easing their compliance requirements.

81. As a further measure which directly benefits Start-ups and Innovators, I propose to incentivize the incorporation of One Person Companies (OPCs) by allowing OPCs to grow without any restrictions on paid up capital and turnover, allowing their conversion into any other type of company at any time, reducing the residency limit for an Indian citizen to set up an OPC from 182 days to 120 days and also allow Non Resident Indians (NRIs) to incorporate OPCs in India.

82. To ensure faster resolution of cases, NCLT framework will be strengthened, e-Courts system shall be implemented and alternate methods of debt resolution and special framework for MSMEs shall be introduced.

83. During the coming fiscal 2021-22, we will be launching data analytics, artificial intelligence, machine learning driven MCA21 Version 3.0. This Version 3.0 will have additional modules for e-scrutiny, e-Adjudication, e-Consultation and Compliance Management.

Disinvestment and Strategic Sale

84. In spite of COVID-19, we have kept working towards strategic disinvestment. A number of transactions namely BPCL, Air India, Shipping Corporation of India, Container Corporation of India, IDBI Bank, BEML, Pawan Hans, Neelachal Ispat Nigam limited among others would be completed in 2021-22. Other than IDBI Bank, we propose to take up the privatization of two Public Sector Banks and one General Insurance company in the year 2021-22. This would require legislative amendments and I propose to introduce the amendments in this Session itself.

85. In 2021-22 we would also bring the IPO of LIC for which I am bringing the requisite amendments in this Session itself.

86. In the AtmaNirbhar Package, I had announced that we will come out with a policy of strategic disinvestment of public sector enterprises. I am happy to inform the House that the Government has approved the said policy. The policy provides a clear roadmap for disinvestment in all nonstrategic and strategic sectors. We have kept four areas that are strategic where bare minimum CPSEs will be maintained and rest privatized. In the remaining sectors all CPSEs will be privatized. The main highlights of the policy are mentioned at Annexure-III.

87. To fast forward the disinvestment policy, I am asking NITI to work out on the next list of Central Public Sector companies that would be taken up for strategic disinvestment.

88. To similarly incentivise States to take to disinvestment of their Public Sector Companies, we will work out an incentive package of Central Funds for States.

89. Idle assets will not contribute to AtmaNirbhar Bharat. The non-core assets largely consist of surplus land with government Ministries/Departments and Public Sector Enterprises. Monetizing of land can either be by way of direct sale or concession or by similar means. This requires special abilities and for this purpose, I propose to use a Special Purpose Vehicle in the form of a company that would carry out this activity.

90. In order to ensure timely completion of closure of sick or loss making CPSEs, we will introduce a revised mechanism that will ensure timely closure of such units.

91. I have estimated ` 1,75,000 crores as receipts from disinvestment in BE 2021-22.

Government Financial Reforms

92. Under the Treasury Single Account (TSA) System autonomous bodies directly draw funds from the Government’s account at the time of actual expenditure, saving interest costs. We will extend the TSA System for universal application from 2021-22.

93. On the recommendation of the Fifteenth Finance Commission, we have undertaken a detailed exercise to rationalise and bring down the number of Centrally Sponsored Schemes. This will enable consolidation of outlays for better impact.

94. The Government is committed to the development of Multi-State Cooperatives and will provide all support to them. To further streamline the ‘Ease of Doing Business’ for Cooperatives, I propose to set up a separate Administrative Structure for them. 3. Inclusive Development for Aspirational India

95. Honourable Speaker Sir, under this pillar, I will cover Agriculture and Allied sectors, farmers’ welfare and rural India, migrant workers and labour, and financial inclusion. Agriculture

96. Our Government is committed to the welfare of farmers. The MSP regime has undergone a sea change to assure price that is at least 1.5 times the cost of production across all commodities. The procurement has also continued to increase at a steady pace. This has resulted in increase in payment to farmers substantially.

97. In case of wheat, the total amount paid to farmers in 2013-2014 was Rs 33,874 crores. In 2019-2020 it was Rs 62,802 crores, and even better, in 2020-2021, this amount, paid to farmers, was Rs 75,060 crores. The number of wheat growing farmers that were benefitted increased in 2020-21 to 43.36 lakhs as compared to Rs 35.57 lakhs in 2019-20.

98. For paddy, the amount paid in 2013-14 was Rs 63,928 crores. In 2019- 2020 this increased Rs 1,41,930 crores. Even better, in 2020-2021, this is further estimated to increase to Rs 172,752 crores. The number of farmers benefitted increased from 1.24 crores in 2019-20 to 1.54 crores in 2020-21.

99. In the same vein, in case of pulses, the amount paid in 2013-2014 was Rs 236 crores. In 2019-20 it increased Rs 8,285 crores. Now, in 2020-2021, it is at Rs 10,530 crores, a more than 40 times increase from 2013-14.

100. The receipts to cotton farmers have seen a stupendous increase from Rs 90 crores in 2013-14 to Rs 25,974 crores (as on 27th January 2021). The details are in Annexure IV.

101. Early this year, Honourable Prime Minister had launched SWAMITVA Scheme. Under this, a record of rights is being given to property owners in villages. Up till now, about 1.80 lakh property-owners in 1,241 villages have been provided cards. I now propose during FY21-22 to extend this to cover all states/UTs.

102. To provide adequate credit to our farmers, I have enhanced the agricultural credit target to Rs 16.5 lakh crores in FY22. We will focus on ensuring increased credit flows to animal husbandry, dairy, and fisheries.

103. We are enhancing the allocation to the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund from `30,000 crores to Rs 40,000 crores.

104. The Micro Irrigation Fund, with a corpus of Rs 5,000 crores has been created under NABARD, I propose to double it by augmenting it by another Rs 5,000 crores.

105. To boost value addition in agriculture and allied products and their exports, the scope of ‘Operation Green Scheme’ that is presently applicable to tomatoes, onions, and potatoes, will be enlarged to include 22 perishable products.

106. Around 1.68 crores farmers are registered and Rs 1.14 lakh crores of trade value has been carried out through e-NAMs. Keeping in view the transparency and competitiveness that e-NAM has brought into the agricultural market, 1,000 more mandis will be integrated with e-NAM.

107. The Agriculture Infrastructure Fund would be made available to APMCs for augmenting their infrastructure facilities.

Fisheries

108. I am proposing substantial investments in the development of modern fishing harbours and fish landing centres. To start with, 5 major fishing harbours – Kochi, Chennai, Visakhapatnam, Paradip, and Petuaghat – will be developed as hubs of economic activity. We will also develop inland fishing harbours and fish-landing centres along the banks of rivers and waterways.

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