Sitharaman praises entrepreneurs, announces new scheme to achieve higher export credit disbursement

Entrepreneurship has always been India's strength and the government recognises the skills and risk-taking capabilities of youth, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Saturday.

"Our young men and women have been contributing to India's growth with their entrepreneurial skills. We recognise the knowledge, skills and risk-taking capabilities of our youth and they are no longer job seekers but they are job creators," she said while presenting the Union Budget 2020-21 in Parliament.

The Finance Minister proposed setting up of an investment clearance cell that will provide end-to-end facilitation and support to create more opportunities for youth by removing road-blocks. She also proposed to develop five new smart cities in collaboration with states in public-private partnership mode. Sitharaman announced a new scheme NIRVIK to achieve higher export credit disbursement, which provides for higher insurance coverage, reduction in premium for small exporters and simplified procedure for claim settlements.

By the end of fifth year, the scheme is expected to support exports of about Rs 30 lakh crore. She proposed digitally refund to exporters the duties and taxes levied at central, state and local levels. They include electricity duties and value-added tax on fuel used for transportation which are not getting exempted or refunded under any other existing mechanism.

Sitharaman said that the electronics manufacturing industry is very competitive and the potential in job creation is immense. She further said that India needs to boost domestic manufacturing and attract large investments in the electronics value chain.

She proposed a scheme to encourage the manufacture of mobile phones, electronic equipment and semiconductor packaging. She also proposed a National Technical Textiles Mission with a four-year implementation period from 2020-21 to 2023-24 at an estimated outlay of Rs 1,480 crore to position India as a global leader in technical textiles.

Sitharaman referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call for quality and standards with zero-defect manufacturing. All ministries during the course of this year will be issuing quality standard orders.

The Government e-Marketplace (GeM) is moving ahead for creating a unified procurement system for providing a single platform for procurement of goods, services and works, said Sitharaman.

She proposed to take the turnover of GeM to Rs 3 lakh crore and proposed to provide Rs 27,300 crore for development and promotion of industry and commerce for the year 2020-21.