Union Cabinet Approvals 2021 : 29th September 2021

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On September 29, 2021, the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the following proposals which were briefed by Union ministers Piyush Goyal (Ministry of Commerce and Industry) and Anurag Singh Thakur, Minister of Information and Broadcasting

Cabinet approves Continuation/Revisions/Modifications of Centrally Sponsored National Scheme for PM POSHAN in Schools for five more years

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by the Hon’ble Prime Minister has approved the continuation of ‘National Scheme for PM POSHAN in Schools’ for the five year period 2021-22 to 2025-26.

Financial outlay of Rs.54,061.73 crore from the Central Government and Rs.31,733.17 crore from State Governments and UT administrations

Central Government will also bear additional cost of about ₹ 45,000 crore on foodgrains. Therefore, the total scheme budget will amount to ₹ 1,30,794.90 crore.

This is a Centrally-Sponsored Scheme which covers all school children studying in Classes I-VIII of Government, Government-Aided Schools.

The earlier name of the scheme was ‘National Scheme for Mid Day Meal in Schools’ popularly known as Mid Day Meal Scheme.

The scheme covers about 11.80 crore children studying in 11.20  lakh schools across the country. During 2020-21, Government of India invested more than ₹ 24,400 crore in the scheme, including cost of about ₹ 11,500 crore on foodgrains.

Highlights of the decision that would improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the scheme are as below:

The scheme is proposed to be extended to students studying in pre-primary or Bal Vatikas of Government and Government-aided primary schools in addition to all the 11.80 crore children from elementary classes.

The concept of TithiBhojan will be encouraged extensively. TithiBhojan is a community participation programme in which people provide special food to children on special occasions/festivals.

Government is promoting development of School Nutrition Gardens in schools to give children first hand experience with nature and gardening. The harvest of these gardens is used in the scheme providing additional micro nutrients. School Nutrition Gardens have already been developed in more than 3 lakh schools.

Social Audit of the scheme is made mandatory in all the districts.

Special provision is made for providing supplementary nutrition items to children in aspirational districts and districts with high prevalence of Anemia.

Vocal for Local for Atmanirbhar Bharat: Involvement of Farmers Producer Organizations (FPO) and Women Self Help Groups in implementation of the scheme will be encouraged

Cabinet approves doubling of Rajkot-Kanalus railway line

• The total estimated cost of the project will be Rs.1,080.58 crore and its escalated / completion cost is Rs.1,168.13 crore. 
• The total length of doubling of line is 111.20 km.  The project will be completed in four years.

Cabinet approves doubling of Nimach-Ratlam railway line

• The total estimated cost of the project will be Rs.1,095.88 crore and its escalated / completion cost is Rs.1,184.67 crore.  
• The total length of doubling of line is 132.92 km. The project will be completed in four years.

Government under the leadership of Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has undertaken a series of measures to provide a boost to the exports sector.

Government approves Rs. 4,400 crore investment in ECGC Ltd. in 5 years to provide support to exporters as well as banks

• Government has today approved capital infusion of ₹4,400 crore to ECGC Ltd. (formerly known as Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India Ltd.) over a period of five years, i.e. from FY 2021-2022 to FY 2025- 2026.

ECGC was established by the Government of India under Companies Act in 1957 to promote exports by providing credit insurance services to exporters against non- payment risks by the overseas buyers due to commercial and political reasons.

• It also provides insurance covers to banks against risks in export credit lending to the exporter borrowers. 
• ECGC plays a wider role in supporting exports from labour-intensive sectors and encourage bank lending to enterprises of small exporters thereby leading to their revival.
• The approved amount will be infused in instalments thereby  increasing  the  capacity to   underwrite   risks   up to ₹88,000 crore and this will enable ECGC to issue covers that can support additional exports of ₹5.28 lakh crore over the five-year period in line with the existing pattern.

In addition, in terms of the report ‘Export to Jobs’ published by World Bank and International Labour Organisation in February 2019, ₹5.28 lakh crore exports will lead to formalization of 2.6 lakh workers. Further, the total number of workers (both formal and informal) will increase by 59 lakhs as per the report.

ECGC - Performance highlights

• ECGC is a market leader with around 85% market share in export credit insurance market in India
• Export supported by ECGC was Rs.6.02 lakh crore in 2020-21, which is around 28% of India’s merchandise exports
• Number of distinct exporters benefitted are 7,372 and 9,535 under Export Credit Insurance for Banks as of  31/3/2021, 97% of which are small exporters
• ECGC insures around 50% of total export credit disbursement by banks, covering 22 banks (12 Public Sector Banks and 10 Private Sector Banks)
• ECGC has a database of over five lakh overseas buyers
• It has settled claims more than Rs.7,500 crore in the last decade
• It has invested $ 11.7 million in Africa Trade Insurance (ATI) so as to facilitate Indian exports to African market

Government approves continuation of the National Export Insurance Account (NEIA) scheme

• Government has today approved capital infusion of has approved contribution of Grant-in-aid (Corpus) of ₹1,650 Crore to National Export Insurance Account (NEIA) over a period of five years, i.e. from FY 2021-2022 to FY 2025-2026

NEIA Trust was established in 2006 to promote project exports from India that are of strategic and national importance

• The NEIA Trust promotes Medium and Long Term (MLT) /project exports by extending (partial/full) support to covers issued by ECGC (ECGC Ltd, formerly known as Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India Ltd.) to MLT/project export and to Exim Bank for Buyer’s Credit (BC-NEIA) tied to project exports from India.
• Corpus contribution of ₹1,650 Crore will enhance the underwriting capacity of the Trust and will enable NEIA to support project exports worth ₹33,000 Crore at full capacity utilization that in turn will translate into an estimated output of domestically manufactured goods to the tune of ₹25,000 Crore approximately.

NEIA- Performance highlights

• The NEIA Trust was set up in 2006 to promote Medium and Long-Term (MLT)/ project exports by enabling credit and political insurance
• NEIA supports projects which are commercially viable and are strategically important
• The corpus commitment of GOI is Rs.4000 crore and Maximum Liability Permissible is 20 times of the actual corpus

Various Export Related Schemes and Initiatives taken by Govt. in last few years

• Foreign Trade Policy (2015-20) extended upto 31-03-2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic situation
• Rs 56,027 crore released in September 2021 to liquidate all pending arrears under all script base Schemes to provide liquidity in the COVID-19 times
• Roll out of a new Scheme - Remission of Duties and Taxes and Exported Products (RoDTEP). Rs 12,454 crore sanctioned for the Scheme in the FY 2021-22. It is a WTO compatible mechanism for reimbursement of taxes/ duties/ levies, which are currently not being refunded under any other mechanism, at the central, state and local level
• Support to textiles sector was increased by the remission of Central/ State taxes through the ROSCTL scheme, which has now been extended till March 2024
• Common Digital Platform for Certificate of Origin has been launched to facilitate trade and increase FTA utilization by exporters
• A comprehensive “Agriculture Export Policy” to provide an impetus to agricultural exports related to agriculture, horticulture, animal husbandry, fisheries and food processing sectors, is under implementation
• Promoting and diversifying services exports by pursuing specific action plans for the 12 Champion Services Sectors
• Promoting districts as export hubs by identifying products with export potential in each district, addressing bottlenecks for exporting these products and supporting local exporters/manufacturers to generate employment in the district
• Active role of Indian missions abroad towards promoting India’s trade, tourism, technology and investment goals has been enhanced
• Package announced in light of the covid pandemic to support domestic industry through various banking and financial sector relief measures, especially for MSMEs, which constitute a major share in exports
• Trade Infrastructure for Export Scheme (TIES), Market Access Initiatives (MAI) Scheme and Transport and Marketing Assistance (TMA) schemes to promote trade infrastructure and marketing.

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