India's online video market to touch US$ 4 billion by 2025

The online video market in India is estimated to reach US$ 4 billion by 2025, with subscription services contributing more than US$ 1.5 billion while advertising accounting for US$ 2.5 billion.

The major contribution will be by Google’s YouTube, followed by Disney+ Hotstar.

Disney+ Hotstar is the streaming service owned by Disney India and has potential to acquire 25 per cent of the total online video revenue pie by 2025.

Details of these projections are given under a report titled India Intelligence and Insights: Disney+ Hotstar: The Future of India’s Largest Premium Digital Video Platform brought out by independent research and consultancy services firm Media Partners Asia (MPA).

“In the current COVID situation, audiences are spending more time online and OTT platforms have almost doubled their viewership. This viewership trend is likely to continue at least for a few years. Hence, advertising on the services is likely to surge in the coming years as they increasingly become the choice for content consumption," said Mr Anita Nayyar, head, customer strategy and relationships, ZEE5.

As per the report by FICCI-EY media and entertainment industry report 2020, television advertising in India, on the other hand, is estimated to reach Rs 388 billion (US$ 5.1 billion) by 2022.

“The pay economy for online content will be successful if we work with quality content, and price it in the right manner," said Mr Vishnu Mohta, co-founder of Bengali video streaming platform Hoichoi. “It would happen because the COVID pandemic has catapulted OTT growth by some five years. Things that people would have expected to see in 2025, might happen now."

Mr D Girish, vice-president, strategy at documentary streaming service DocuBay added that the current crisis has expedited the adoption of digital platforms by a large percentage of content consumers.

He added, “SVoD is not dependent on advertising spends by brands that are among the first to be impacted whenever there is a certain corporate or economic downturn; however, greater digital adoption also opens the door for a larger turf for AVoD monetization than in the past."

According to MPA, Disney+ Hotstar could reach 93 million paying subscribers by 2025 at monthly ARPUs (average revenue per user) under US$ 1. Thus, taking subscription revenue to US$ 587 million by 2025 while advertising sales could reach US$ 314 million.

Though, any impact from new services such as gaming or expansion to south east Asia was not considered in report.

The effect of COVID-19 will be seen on the revenue of advertising market with TV bearing the brunt while digital video will also come under pressure. There is no exception by the Disney+ Hotstar’s advertisement packages.

Although, Disney+ enjoyed the benefit of subscription through the first half of 2020 from its launch in April 2020. Regardless the absence of the popular IPL cricket tournament, Disney+ contributed meaningfully to premium tier subscriber growth and remained churn positive through the period, as per MPA analysis.

According to the report, the strengthen of the platform includes sports, local originals, Hollywood entertainment and its super aggregator strategy. In order to increase subscribers, drive viewership and stay ahead of aggressive global and local competition, the company must sustain and accelerate the pace of its investment in product innovation, content creation and acquisition as well as retain its key sports rights. It must also develop new features and services including gaming and the aggregation of more local live and on-demand content.

It was rebranded as Disney+ Hotstar earlier this year, pricing, content mix and tech are main pillars of the Disney+ Hotstar strategy, added the MPA report. Pricing plays the important role as India’s large pay-TV universe only pays US$ 4 per month for a wide range of live TV channels, including sports and entertainment. Annual offers at attractive rates have been the key to creating an online subscription business at scale. Disney has three distinct offerings – Disney+ Hotstar VIP, Disney+ Hotstar Premium and an ad-supported basic tier. The VIP plan is available for Rs 399 (US$ 5.66) a year while the premium subscription comes for Rs 1,499 (US4 21.26).

Disney+ Hotstar’s major differentiation has been its vast aggregation of premium local and international entertainment and sports, driving its present-day addressable market to 100 million plus subscribers.

Disney+ comes with content bundled from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars and National Geographic.

General Atlantic to invest Rs 6,598 crore in Jio Platforms

New York-based private equity giant General Atlantic plans to invest Rs 6,598.38 crore (US$ 936.07 million) in Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) in its digital assets subsidiary, Jio Platforms Ltd.

This deal comes just two days ahead of the launch of RIL’s Rs 53,000 crore (US$ 7.52 billion) rights issue and will see General Atlantic pick up a 1.34 per cent stake in Jio Platforms, taking the value of the company at Rs 4.91 trillion (US$ 69.66 billion).

In the last month, with the latest deal, Jio Platforms has raised Rs 67,194.75 crore (US$ 9.53 billion) from marquee tech investors, such as Facebook, Silver Lake, Vista Equity Partners and General Atlantic.

The enterprise value of the Jio Platform has reached Rs 5.16 trillion (US$ 73.20 billion) with the deal with General Atlantic.

“I am thrilled to welcome General Atlantic, a marquee global investor, as a valued partner. I have known General Atlantic for several decades and greatly admired it for its belief in India’s huge growth potential," said Mr Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director, RIL. “General Atlantic shares our vision of a digital society for India and strongly believes in the transformative power of digitization in enriching the lives of 1.3 billion Indians. We are excited to leverage General Atlantic’s proven global expertise and strategic insights across 40 years of technology investing for the benefit of Jio."

The idea behind the RIL’s strategy to raise funds through a flurry of stake sales is mainly intended at building confidence among potential investors for its mega rights issue amid a volatile equity market during the COVID-19 crisis.

RIL announced raising of Rs 53,125 crore (US$ 7.54 billion) through a 1:15 rights issue (one new share for every 15 shares held) at an offer price of Rs 1,257 (US$ 17.83) apiece on 30 April 2020 and the issue is set to open on 20 May.

RIL will let its subscribers buy the rights issue shares by only making a part payment now and the rest later because of the uncertainties in the market, giving RIL promoters more time to bring in enough money to fully subscribe to the rights issue. Shareholders, those are willing to subscribe to the rights issue will have to pay 25 per cent on application and the rest in one or more tranches. With 50 per cent shareholding, RIL’s promoter group led by Ambani will need Rs 26,600 crore (US$ 3.77 billion) to subscribe to its portion of the rights issue.

Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh approves Rs 400 crore Defence Testing Infrastructure Scheme

In order to give a boost to domestic defence and aerospace manufacturing, Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh has approved the launch of Defence Testing Infrastructure Scheme (DTIS) with an outlay of Rs 400 crore (US$ 56.75 million) for creating state of the art testing infrastructure for this sector. The Scheme would run for the duration of five years and envisages to setup six to eight new test facilities in partnership with private industry. This will facilitate indigenous defence production, consequently, reduce imports of military equipment and help make the country self-reliant.

The projects under the Scheme will be provided with up to 75 per cent government funding in the form of ‘Grant-in-Aid’. The remaining 25 per cent of the project cost will have to be borne by the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) whose constituents will be Indian private entities and State Governments. The SPVs under the Scheme will be registered under Companies Act 2013 and shall also operate and maintain all assets under the Scheme, in a self-sustainable manner by collecting user charges. The equipment/systems tested will be certified as per appropriate accreditation.

While majority of test facilities are expected to come up in the two Defence Industrial Corridors (DICs), the Scheme is not limited to setting up Test Facilities in the DICs only.

National Migrant Information System (NMIS) - a central online repository on Migrant Workers - developed by NDMA to facilitate their seamless movement across States

Government of India has allowed the movement of migrant workers by buses and ‘Shramik’ special trains to enable them to travel to their native places.

In order to capture the information regarding movement of migrants and facilitate the smooth movement of stranded persons across States, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has developed an online Dashboard - National Migrant Information System (NMIS).

The online portal would maintain a central repository on migrant workers and help in speedy inter-State communication/co-ordination to facilitate their smooth movement to native places. It has additional advantages like contact tracing, which may be useful in overall COVID-19 response work.

The key data pertaining to the persons migrating has been standardized for uploading such as name, age, mobile no., originating and destination district, date of travel etc., which States are already collecting.

States will be able to visualize how many people are going out from where and how many are reaching destination States. The mobile numbers of people can be used for contact tracing and movement monitoring during COVID-19.

Finance Minister announces Government Reforms and Enablers across Seven Sectors under Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan

Hon'ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi announced a Special economic and comprehensive package of Rs 20 lakh crore (US$ 283.73 billion) - equivalent to 10 per cent of India’s GDP on 12th May 2020. He gave a clarion call for or Self-Reliant India Movement. He also outlined five pillars of Atmanirbhar Bharat – Economy, Infrastructure, System, Vibrant Demography and Demand.

In her opening remarks during the 5th Press Conference here today on stimulus package to fight COVID-19 under Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan, the Union Minister of Finance & Corporate Affairs Ms Nirmala Sitharaman referred to the vision laid out by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi in his address to the Nation on 12th May 2020. Quoting the Prime Minister, Ms Sitharaman said that as a Nation, we stand at a very crucial juncture. COVID-19 Pandemic has brought a message and an opportunity. We need now to build an Aatma Nirbhar Bharat.

Smt Sitharaman said that in order to prove the resolve of Aatma Nirbhar Bharat, land, labour, liquidity and laws have all been emphasised in Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Package. The crisis and the challenge is an opportunity to build a self-reliant India.

The Finance Minister said today’s announcement is in continuation in the series of reforms. Soon after lockdown, we came up with Prime Minister Garib Kalyan Package (PMGKP). As part of the Rs 1.70 lakh crore (US$ 24.12 billion) PMGKP, the Government announced distribution of free food grains, cash payment to women and poor senior citizens and farmers etc. The swift implementation of the package is being continuously monitored. Around 41 crore poor people received financial assistance of Rs 52,608 crore (US$ 7.46 billion) under the PMGKP. The Finance Minister also said PMGKP used technology to do Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) to people. We could do what we did because of the initiatives taken during the last few years, she added.

In addition, 84 lakh metric tonnes of food grains have been lifted by States and also more than 3.5 lakh metric tonnes of pulses have been dispatched to various States. And for this, Ms Sitharaman appreciated the concerted efforts of FCI, NAFED and States, giving pulses and grains in huge quantities, despite logistical challenges.

Announcing the 5th and last Tranche of measures towards Government Reforms and Enablers, Ms Sitharaman detailed seven measures for providing employment, support to businesses, Ease of Doing Business, and State Governments as well sectors such as Education and Health.

1. Rs 40,000 crore (US$ 5.67 billion) increase in allocation for MGNREGS to provide employment boost

The Government will now allocate an additional Rs 40,000 crore (US$ 5.67 billion) under MGNREGS. It will help generate nearly 300 crore person days in total addressing need for more work including returning migrant workers in Monsoon season as well. Creation of larger number of durable and livelihood assets including water conservation assets will boost the rural economy through higher production. 

2. Health Reforms & Initiatives

 Public Expenditure on Health will be increased by investing in grass root health institutions and ramping up Health and Wellness Centres in rural and urban areas. Setting up of Infectious Diseases Hospital Blocks in all districts and strengthening of lab network and surveillance by Integrated Public Health Labs in all districts & block level Labs & Public Health Unit to manage pandemics. Further, National Institutional Platform for One health by ICMR will encourage research. And implementation of National Digital Health Blueprint under the National Digital Health Mission. 

3. Technology Driven Education with Equity post-COVID

 PM eVIDYA, a programme for multi-mode access to digital/online education to be launched immediately. Manodarpan, an initiative for psycho-social support for students, teachers and families for mental health and emotional well-being to be launched immediately as well. New National Curriculum and Pedagogical framework for school, early childhood and teachers will also be launched. National Foundational Literacy and Numeracy Mission for ensuring that every child attains Learning levels and outcomes in grade 5 by 2025 will be launched by December 2020. 

4. Further enhancement of Ease of Doing Business through IBC related measures

Minimum threshold to initiate insolvency proceedings has been raised to Rs 1 crore (US$ 0.14 million) (from Rs 1 lakh (US$ 1418), which largely insulates MSMEs). Special insolvency resolution framework for MSMEs under Section 240A of the Code will be notified soon.

 Suspension of fresh initiation of insolvency proceedings up to one year, depending upon the pandemic situation. Empowering Central Government to exclude COVID 19 related debt from the definition of “default” under the Code for the purpose of triggering insolvency proceedings. 

5. Decriminalisation of Companies Act defaults

Decriminalisation of Companies Act violations involving minor technical and procedural defaults such as shortcomings in CSR reporting, inadequacies in Board report, filing defaults, delay in holding of AGM. The Amendments will de-clog the criminal courts and NCLT. 7 compoundable offences altogether dropped and 5 to be dealt with under alternative framework. 

6. Ease of Doing Business for Corporates

Key reforms include:

• Direct listing of securities by Indian public companies in permissible foreign jurisdictions
• Private companies which list NCDs on stock exchanges not to be regarded as listed companies
• Including the provisions of Part IXA (Producer Companies) of Companies Act, 1956 in Companies Act, 2013
• Power to create additional/ specialized benches for NCLAT
• Lower penalties for all defaults for Small Companies, One-person Companies, Producer Companies & Start-ups

7. Public Sector Enterprise Policy for a New, Self-reliant India

Government will announce a new policy whereby -

• List of strategic sectors requiring presence of PSEs in public interest will be notified
• In strategic sectors, at least one enterprise will remain in the public sector, but private sector will also be allowed
• In other sectors, PSEs will be privatized (timing to be based on feasibility etc.)
• To minimise wasteful administrative costs, number of enterprises in strategic sectors will ordinarily be only one to four; others will be privatised/ merged/ brought under holding companies 

8. Support to State Governments

Centre has decided to increase borrowing limits of States from 3 per cent to 5 per cent for 2020-21 only. This will give States extra resources of Rs 4.28 lakh crore (US$ 60.72 billion). Part of the borrowing will be linked to specific reforms (including recommendations of the Finance Commission). Reform linkage will be in four areas: universalisation of ‘One Nation One Ration card’, Ease of Doing Business, Power distribution and Urban Local Body revenues. A specific scheme will be notified by Department of Expenditure on the following pattern:

• Unconditional increase of 0.50 per cent
• 1 per cent in 4 tranches of 0.25 per cent, with each tranche linked to clearly specified, measurable and feasible reform actions
• Further 0.50 per cent if milestones are achieved in at least three out of four reform areas

The Finance Minister concluded by providing a breakup of the stimulus measures provided so far in order to become Aatma Nirbhar Bharat.

38 new mandis integrated with e-NAM; The pan-India electronic agri-produce trading portal reaches milestone of 1000 mandis across 18 States & 3 UTs

38 additional mandis were integrated with the e-NAM platform today, thus achieving milestone of integration of 415 mandis as per the planned target. 38 Mandis integrated are in Madhya Pradesh (19), Telangana (10), Maharashtra (4) and One (1) each from Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab, Kerala & J&K.

With the overall success of 585 mandis in Phase 1 and further expanding its wings to integrate 415 new mandis in Phase 2, the e-NAM platform now has a total number of 1000 mandis across 18 States & 3 UTs.

The e-NAM is being implemented by the Small Farmers Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC), being the lead agency for the project under the aegis of Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Government of India, with the support of all the e-NAM States/UTs, State Marketing Boards, Mandi secretaries, Supervisors, Quality Assayers, Weighment Operators, Service Providers, Farmers, FPOs, Traders and e-NAM team.

National Agriculture Market (e-NAM), a pan-India electronic trading portal was launched on 14th April 2016, by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, with the aim of networking the existing Mandis on a common online market platform as “One Nation One Market” for agricultural commodities in India.

This digital initiative of Government of India provides a single window service for all APMC related information and services, including commodity arrivals, quality assaying, competitive bid offers and electronic payment settlement directly into farmers’ accounts. This online digital market aims at reducing transaction costs, bridging information asymmetries, and helping expansion of market access for farmers and other stakeholders.

In last 4 years the e-NAM has registered a user base of 1.66 Cr Farmers, 1.31 lakh Traders, 73,151 Commission Agents and 1012 FPOs. As on 14th May 2020, total volume of 3.43 Crore MT & 38.16 Lakh numbers (Bamboo & Coconut) collectively crossed a remarkable business milestone worth Rs 1 lakh crore (US$ 14.19 billion) on e-NAM platform. Presently 150 commodities, including Foodgrains, Oilseeds, Fibers, Fruits & Vegetables, are traded on e-NAM.

To address the difficulties faced by the farmers due to the COVID19 lockdown crisis, the Union Minister of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar, on 2nd April 2020 launched 3 new modules of e-NAM.

1. FPO Module on e-NAM: This enables FPOs to conduct trade of commodities from their collection centres declared as “Deemed Market” or “Submarket yards”. As on 14th May 2020, 1012 FPOs are registered on e-NAM platform, and have traded 3053 MT of agri-produce worth Rs 8.11 Crore. Among these, 42 FPOs traded from their own collection center through recently introduced FPO module.
2. Warehouse based Electronic Negotiable Warehouse Receipts (e-NWR) trading: For e-NWR based trading, WDRA accredited warehouses from Andhra Pradesh (23) and Telangana (14) have been declared as deemed market by respective State Governments. Rajasthan Government has recently declared 138 State Government & cooperative warehouses as submarket yards. Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Punjab have initiated   amendments in their respective acts to facilitate warehouse-based trade.
3. Logistics Module: This facilitates transportation of the commodities from farm to Mandis and from Mandis to warehouse/consumption centres. Nine logistic service providers/aggregators linked with 2.3 lakh transporters and 11.37 lakh vehicles have been on-boarded on e-NAM platform.

On May 1, 2020, Inter-Operability between ReMS (Unified Market Portal-UMP) and e-NAM portal was launched. In this new module farmers and traders across ReMS (UMP) of Karnataka and e-NAM platform can conduct inter-platform trade to access more markets for trade using inter-operability features and vice-versa.

These revolutionary steps of e-NAM further strengthen it towards One Nation One Market goal, facilitating farmers, traders and mandis to collectively work together as a cohesive unit to take nation towards online sale and purchase of agri-produce through e-NAM portal.

 

Maruti acquires Sumitomo's stake in JJ Impex; to supply Brezza to Toyota

Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL), took a slew of decisions, including acquisition of Delhi-based JJ Impex, and supply of Vitara Brezza to Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM).

According to the filing to the BSE, the company said the board has approved acquiring 39.13 per cent equity stake held by Sumitomo Corporation, Japan and 10 per cent held by Sumitomo Corporation India Pvt Ltd in JJ Impex (Delhi) Pvt Ltd, a company engaged in automobile service and repair business.

The acquisition is worth Rs 21.73 crore (US$ 3.08 million) and no government approval is required, the company said.

MSIL said, “After the acquisition, the company shall become the wholly-owned subsidiary of MSIL. MSIL shall have the right to nominate/ appoint all the Directors on the board of the company. The nominee Directors of Sumitomo Group shall resign from the board of the company.”

Another approval given by board is for supply of another product (derivative model of Vitara Brezza currently being manufactured by the company) to TKM. “This will result in incremental sales for the company,” it said.

The appointment of Mr Maheshwar Sahu as an Independent Director of the MSIL for a period of five years (from May 14, 2020 till May 13, 2025) subject to shareholders’ approval in the ensuing annual general meeting has also received approval from boards.

Mr Sahu is an ex-senior civil servant with over 30 years of leadership experience in Central and State governments.

Patenting of Innovative Low Cost PPE developed by Indian Navy Paves way for Rapid Mass Production

In a major step towards rapid mass production of the Medical Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) developed by the Indian Navy, a patent has been successfully filed by the Intellectual Property Facilitation Cell (IPFC) of Min of Defence, in association with National Research Development Corporation (NRDC), an enterprise under Min of Science & Technology.

The low-cost PPE has been developed by a Doctor of Indian Navy, posted at the recently created Innovation Cell at Institute of Naval Medicine (INM), Mumbai. A pilot batch of PPEs has already been produced at Naval Dockyard Mumbai.

The PPE developed by the Navy is made of a special fabric which affords high level of protection along with high ‘breathability’ as against other PPEs available in the market and is therefore more suitable for use in hot and humid weather conditions as prevalent in India. The technology has also been tested and validated by ICMR approved Testing Lab.

Concerted efforts are now ongoing by a core team of Navy, IPFC and NRDC to commence mass production of this low-cost PPE. Eligible firms are being identified by NRDC for taking up licensed production of the PPEs on a fast track. A very significant and urgent requirement in the fight against the Corona Virus is the need to equip our front-line health care professionals with comfortable PPEs, which can be produced indigenously at an affordable cost without much capital investment. The firms / start-ups interested to take up licensed production may approach cmdnrdc@nrdcindia.com.

The team of Innovators from Navy is working in close coordination with IPFC which was set up under Mission Raksha Gyan Shakti. Since its launch in Nov 2018, around 1500 IP assets have been created under Mission Raksha Gyan Shakti.

Dr Harsh Vardhan dedicates COBAS 6800 testing machine to the nation; Nearly 20 lakh samples tested for COVID-19 through more than 500 labs: Dr. Harsh Vardhan

Dr Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare visited the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and dedicated the COBAS 6800 testing machine to the nation, here today. This is the first such testing machine that has been procured by the Government for testing of COVID-19 cases and is installed at the National Centre for Disease Control.

The Union Health Minister also visited the Control Room and the Testing Laboratories and reviewed the current status of COVID-19 testing with Dr S K Singh, Director (NCDC) and senior officials. Highlighting the achievements in ramping up the testing capability, Dr Harsh Vardhan said, “We have now developed a capacity to conduct 1,00,000 tests per day. Today marks an important milestone as we have tested nearly 20 lakh tests for COVID-19 mark at more than 500 laboratories including 359 Government laboratories and 145 private laboratories in the country”. He further added, “NCDC has been now equipped with the COBAS 6800, a fully automated, high end machine for performing real time PCR testing COVID-19 in the service of nation. COBAS 6800 will provide quality, high-volume testing with a high throughput of test around 1200 samples in 24 hours. It will largely increase the testing capacity with reduction in pendency.”

Highlighting its other features, Dr Harsh Vardhan said that COBAS 6800 is a sophisticated machine enabled with robotics that minimizes the chance of contamination as well as the risk of infection to the health care workers since it can be operated remotely with limited human intervention. As the machine requires a minimum BSL2+ containment level for testing, it cannot be placed at just any facility. COBAS 6800 can also detect other pathogens like Viral Hepatitis B & C, HIV, MTb (both rifampicin and isoniazid resistance), Papilloma, CMV, Chlamydia, Neisseria etc.

Expressing his deep gratitude to the selfless services being rendered every day since the beginning of the pandemic, Dr Harsh Vardhan said, “I salute the pathologists, lab technicians, scientists and other staff who are our ‘Corona Warriors’ and working under tremendous risky conditions in their line of duty, day and night to save the fellow countrymen.” He added that the nation needs to shun stigma and applaud the contribution of these frontline healthcare providers.

Dr Harsh Vardhan also lauded the dedication, hard work and sincerity of all the surveillance officers and encouraged them to continue the fight with renewed vigour. The Union Health Minister emphasised on the quality and sturdiness of the community surveillance and contact tracing. “It is the need of the hour that all the people who are either in home or facility quarantine, need to maintain strict vigil, and practise the laid down protocols of social distancing, and personal hygiene. Special care needs to be taken of the elderly, pregnant women and small children”, he stated.

Dr Harsh Vardhan added that it is a heartening news that today, the last three days’ doubling time has slowed down to 13.9 days, while the doubling time in the past 14 days was 11.1. He further added that the fatality rate is 3.2 per cent and the recovery rate has further improved and today stands at 33.6 per cent (it was 32.83 per cent yesterday). He also added that (as of yesterday) there are 3.0 per cent active COVID-19 patients in ICU, 0.39 per cent on ventilators and 2.7 per cent on oxygen support. “Today, there are 14 States/UTs that have not reported any cases of COVID-19 in last 24 hrs. i.e. A&N Islands, Arunachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Chandigarh, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Goa, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Puducherry, Telangana. Also, Daman & Diu, Sikkim, Nagaland and Lakshadweep have not reported any cases till”, he stated.

As on 14th May 2020, a total of 78,003 cases have been reported from the country in which 26,235 persons have been cured and 2,549 deaths had occurred. In the last 24 hours, 3,722 new confirmed cases have been added.

Finance Minister announces short term and long-term measures for supporting the poor, including migrants, farmers, tiny businesses and street vendors

Hon’ble Prime Minister announced a Special economic and comprehensive package of Rs 20 lakh Crore - equivalent to 10 per cent of India’s GDP on 12th May 2020. He gave a clarion call for  or Self-Reliant India Movement. He also outlined five pillars of Aatmanirbhar Bharat – Economy, Infrastructure, System, Vibrant Demography and Demand.

Announcing the second Tranche of measures to ameliorate the hardships faced specifically by migrant labours, street vendors, migrant urban poor, small traders self-employed people, small farmers and housing, Union Finance & Corporate Affairs Minister Smt Nirmala Sitharaman today in her press conference detailed the short term and long-term measures for supporting the poor, including migrants, farmers, tiny businesses and street vendors.

Smt Sitharaman stated that Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi is always concerned about the difficulties faced by poor, including migrant workers and farmers. Farmers and workers are the backbone of this nation. They serve all of us with their sweat and toil. Migrant workers need affordable and convenient rental housing in urban areas in addition to social security. There is also a need to create employment opportunities for the poor, including migrant and unorganised workers. Farmers need timely and adequate credit support.

Smt. Sitharaman said that the Government is attentive to the needs to all the segments of economy and society. She also mentioned that small business set ups, especially those run by street vendors, support dignified livelihoods through Shishu MUDRA loans. They also need our patronage by way of business as well as caring attention in the form of social security and enhanced credit.

Following short term and long-term measures for supporting the poor, including migrants, farmers, tiny businesses and street vendors were announced today: -

1. Free food grains supply to migrants for 2 months

For the migrant labour, additional food grain to all the States/UTs at the rate of 5 kg per migrant labourer and 1 kg Chana per family per month for two months i.e. May and June 2020 free of cost shall be allocated. Migrant labourers not covered under National Food Security Act or without a ration card in the State/UT in which they are stranded at present will be eligible. States/UTs shall be advised to put a mechanism for targeted distribution as envisaged in the scheme. 8 lakh MT of food-grain and 50,000 MT of Chana shall be allocated. The entire outlay of Rs 3500 crore (US$ 496.52 million) will be borne by Government of India.

 

2. Technology system to be used enabling Migrants to access PDS (Ration) from any Fair Price Shops in India by March,2021-One Nation one Ration Card

Pilot scheme for portability of ration cards will be extended to 23 states. By that, 67 crore beneficiaries covering 83 per cent of PDS population will be covered by National portability of Ration cards by August 2020. 100 per cent National portability will be achieved by March 2021. This is part of PM’s Technology Driven System Reforms This scheme will enable a migrant worker and their family members to access PDS benefits from any Fair Price Shop in the country. This will ensure that the people in transit, especially migrant workers can also get the benefit of PDS benefit across the country.

 

3. Scheme for Affordable Rental Housing Complexes for Migrant Workers and Urban Poor to be launched

Central Government will launch a scheme for migrant workers and urban poor to provide ease of living at affordable rent. Affordable Rental Housing Complexes will provide social security and quality life to migrant labour, urban poor, and students etc. This will be done through converting government funded houses in the cities into Affordable Rental Housing Complexes (ARHC) under PPP mode through concessionaire; manufacturing units, industries, institutions, associations to develop Affordable Rental Housing Complexes (ARHC) on their private land and operate; and Incentivizing  State Govt agencies/Central Government Organizations on similar lines to develop Affordable Rental Housing Complexes (ARHC) and operate. The exact details of the scheme will be released by the Ministry/Department.

 

4. Two per cent Interest Subvention for 12 months for Shishu MUDRA loanees- Relief of Rs 1,500 crore (US$ 212.80 million)

Government of India will provide Interest subvention of two per cent for prompt payees for a period of 12 months to MUDRA Shishu loanees, who have loans below Rs 50,000 (US$ 709.32). The current portfolio of MUDRA Shishu loans is around Rs 1.62 Lakh crore. This will provide relief of about Rs 1,500 crore (US$ 212.80 million) to Shishu MUDRA loanee.

 

5. Rs 5,000 crore (US$ 709.32 million) Credit facility for Street Vendors

 A special scheme will be launched within a month to facilitate easy access to credit to Street vendors, who are amongst the most adversely impacted by the present situation for enabling them to restart their businesses. Under this scheme, bank credit facility for initial working capital up to Rs 10,000 (US$ 141.86) for each enterprise will be extended. This scheme will cover urban as well as rural vendors doing business in the adjoining urban areas. Use of digital payments and timely repayments will be incentivized through monetary rewards. It is expected that 50 lakh street vendors will be benefitted under this scheme and credit of Rs 5,000 crore (US$ 709.32 million) would flow to them.

 

6. Rs 70,000 crore (US$ 9.93 billion) boost to housing sector and middle-income group through extension of Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme for MIG under PMAY(Urban)

The Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme for Middle Income Group (annual Income between Rs 6 and 18 lakh [US$ 0.01 and 0.03 million]) will be extended up to March 2021. This will benefit 2.5 lakh middle income families during 2020-21 and will lead to investment of over Rs 70,000 crore (US$ 9.93 billion) in housing sector. This will create significant number of jobs by giving boost to Housing sector and will stimulate demand for steel, cement, transport and other construction materials.

 

7. Rs 6,000 crore (US$ 851.18 million) for Creating employment using CAMPA funds

Approximately Rs 6,000 crore (US$ 851.18 million) of funds under Compensatory Afforestation Management & Planning Authority (CAMPA) will be used for Afforestation and Plantation works, including in urban areas, Artificial regeneration, assisted natural regeneration, Forest management, soil & moisture conservation works, Forest protection, forest and wildlife related infrastructure development, wildlife protection and management etc. Government of India will grant immediate approval to these plans amounting to Rs 6000 crore (US$ 851.18 million). This will create job opportunities in urban, semi-urban and rural areas and also for Tribals (Adivashis).

 

8. Rs 30,000 crore (US$ 4.26 billion) Additional Emergency Working Capital for farmers through NABARD

 NABARD will extend additional re-finance support of Rs 30,000 crore (US$ 4.26 billion) for meeting crop loan requirement of Rural Cooperative Banks and RRBs. This refinance will be front-loaded and available on tap. This is over and above Rs 90,000 crore (US$ 12.77 billion) that will be provided by NABARD to this sector in the normal course. This will benefit around 3 crore farmers, mostly small and marginal and it will meet their post-harvest Rabi and current Kharif requirements.

 

9. Rs 2 lakh crore (US$ 28.37 billion) credit boost to 2.5 crore farmers under Kisan Credit Card Scheme

 A special drive to provide concessional credit to PM-KISAN beneficiaries through Kisan Credit Cards. Fisherman and Animal Husbandy Farmers will also be included in this drive. This will inject additional liquidity of Rs 2 lakh crore (US$ 28.37 billion) in the farm sector. 2.5 crore farmers will be covered.