New Delhi : Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will address the media again on Thursday at 4 pm in the second phase of announcements on government’s Rs 20 lakh crore package. This comes a day after she held a press conference and shared details of the stimulus package on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, the finance minister said that, over the next few days her team will come before the media to put forth PM’s vision and share more details on the economic package.

Sitharaman on Wednesday announced a slew of measures under the economic package that she said would infuse vigour in the economy and benefit various economic sectors.

TDS, TCS rate for non-salaried payments for period up to March 31, 2021 has been cut by 25%. The move will release Rs 50,000 crore, she said. The finance minister announced that the due date for all income tax returns has been extended to November 30.

In order to provide more take home salary for employees and to give relief to employers in payment of Provident Fund, Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPF) contribution is being reduced for businesses and workers for 3 months, amounting to liquidity support of Rs 6,750 crores, the finance minister announced.

“Definition of MSMEs has been revised, investment limit to be revised upwards, additional criteria of turnover also being introduced,” the finance minister stated.

The finance minister reiterated the importance of “self-reliant India” (Atmanirbhar Bharat) in her address on Wednesday. She said the announcement of the Rs 20 lakh crore economic package for ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ is to spur growth in the country.

FM Nirmala Sitharaman Announcements on COVID-19 Economic Relief Package

New Delhi Wednesday : Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Wednesday announced a slew of measures to help businesses, including micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), recover from the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic. This was a part of the Rs 20 lakh crore stimulus package announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi a day before to spur growth and help build a self-reliant India.

In a bid to provide support to the struggling MSME sector, the government announced collateral-free automatic loans worth Rs 3 lakh crore. It also changed the definition of MSMEs by revising upwards the investment limit and bringing in an additional criteria of turnover size of the company. Further, it said it would no longer allow global tenders for government procurement of up to Rs 200 crore.

For taxpayers, the government reduced the rates of Tax Deduction at Source (TDS) and Tax Collection at Source (TCS) by 25 per cent, with effect from May 14, 2020 to March 21, 2021. It has extended the date for filing income tax returns to November 30, 2020 and tax audit to October 31, 2020. The EPF contribution was also reduced for businesses and workers for three months to 10 per cent from 12 per cent.

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram Wednesday said there was nothing for the for the poor, hungry and migrant workers in Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s announcement on the Rs 20 lakh crore special Covid economic package today and it was a “cruel blow dealt to those who toil every day”. He also said there was nothing by way of cash transfer to the nearly 13 crore families in bottom half of the population who have been “pushed into destitution”.