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Press Release

Top Finance Ministry Secretaries spell out basic thrust of budget

Feb 05, 2018


Highlight importance of boosting rural economy, MSMEs and meeting their credit needs

 

NEW DELHI, 5 February 2018: Finance Secretary Dr. Hasmukh Adhia said here today that the basic thrust of the Union Budget for 2018-19 was to put more money into the rural economy, rejuvenate consumer demand, help industry to better utilise capacities and bring in new investments.

 

Speaking at an interactive session with FICCI's Executive Committee members, Dr. Adhia said that the budget also seeks to give a fillip to MSMEs, which have a critical link with large enterprises but are often constrained because of delayed payments from OEM buyers. These enterprises are therefore in need of timely credit. The effort of the government in capitalizing banks to the tune of Rs 5 lakh crore should come as a measure of relief to MSMEs as they would be able to tap the banks for their credit needs.

 

Mr. Rajiv Kumar, Secretary, Department of Financial Services, in his remarks, pointed out that the move to re-capitalise banks comes in the wake of the accumulation of Rs. 7.7 lakh crore of stressed assets with banks. The effort now would be to make the process of lending technology-driven, strive for financial inclusion, funding the unfunded by establishing links between mobile phones, banks and 'aadhar' and professionalising bank managements and boards.

 

He said that in order to facilitate the MSMEs, the 'Udyami Mitra' online application platform was available which also provided for online tracking of applications. As regards insurance reforms, he said that the government was looking at promoting insurance as the next big step. Consolidation and listing of three general insurance companies was also on the agenda after GIC was listed last year.

 

Mr. Neeraj Kumar Gupta, Investment & Public Asset Management Secretary said that under the disinvestment strategy, the government was set to divest and privatise two dozen companies, and herein lay opportunities for investment by the private sector. He said that the government expects to see a lot of companies to come up with expressions of interest in the case of divestment of Air India and 23 other CPSEs.

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