Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that an asset reconstruction company will be set up to take care of NPAs of stressed banks. She said that there will be amendments so that Asset reconstruction depositors can get easy and time-bound access to their savings to the extent of the deposit insurance. This, the FM said, will help depositors in banks that are currently under stress.
Sitharaman said that the high level of provisioning by public sector banks calls for measures to clean up their books. "An asset reconstruction company will be set up to take over stressed loans. Asset reconstruction and Asset management companies will be set up for value realisation, said the FM. Talking on deposit insurance, she said that the government has approved an increase in the cover from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh for bank depositors. "I shall be moving amendments to streamline the provision so that depositors can get easy and time bound access to their savings to the extent of the deposit insurance. This will help depositors in banks that are currently under stress," she added. Decriminalisation of offences under the Companies Act is now complete. "I now propose to complete the decriminalisation of the Limited Liability Partnership Act of 2008," she said.
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Global economy, which was slowing down, was pushed into uncertainty due to COVID-19. The risk of not having a lockdown was far more, far too high, said the Finance Minister. Amid the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, the Finance Minister presented a paperless budget. This is the first time in India's history that a paperless Union Budget was presented. As the budget papers will not be printed, the Finance Minister had also launched an official mobile app to provide complete access to all budget documents. The mobile app can be downloaded from the Union Budget Web Portal www.indiabudget.gov.in.
The Finance Minister had assured a budget “like never before”. The budget 2021 has a greater significance as it comes amid the COVID-19 pandemic which has caused economic disruption.
FM Nirmala Sitharaman replaced the Swadeshi 'bahi khata' and switched to a tablet. She was seen carrying a tablet kept inside a red coloured cover with a golden coloured national emblem embossed on it. The Economic Survey 2020, presented by FM Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday pegged the GDP growth at 11 per cent in FY22.
