शिवाजी महाराज मराठी भाषण व शायरी

 personal loan against property got a major boost on Tuesday when Finance Minister Arun Jaitley gave in-principle approval to a Rs 7,000-crore scheme to boost lending to borrowers, especially micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

The loan will be provided at 3 per cent interest rate. The scheme will benefit 2.25 million MSME borrowers and create three lakh new jobs, a senior finance ministry official said.

The government will set up a Rs 7,000-crore scheme for MSME sector, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley

announced on Tuesday, saying loans will be available at 3 per cent interest rate. MSME sector contributes about 35 per cent to the country’s gross domestic product. The Modi government has also increased the interest subsidy to MSMEs, who have an annual turnover of Rs 2 crore and less, to Rs 7,000 crore from Rs 6,500 crore.

With loans at 3 per cent interest, the cost of credit for MSMEs will be 3-4 per cent lower than what they are currently getting, sources said. Currently, MSMEs can avail loans at a maximum of 5 per cent interest rate.

While taking steps to generate more credit for the MSME sector, Jaitley also addressed concerns on job creation, a key theme for the NDA government. He announced that the Rs 2-lakh-crore Mudra Yojana for small businesses will be scaled up to Rs 10 lakh crore in next three years.

Jaitley, who presented the 2015-16 Union Budget, said the cost of credit for MSMEs will be 3-4% lower than what they are currently getting. Photo: Bloomberg

Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh will be created to push the railway business. He also announced that the route catering to petroleum products will be among those opened for online tendering.

Here’s what the FM announced in Budget 2015-16

 ₹ 2,00,000 crore for Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency Ltd (MUDRA)

₹ 1,000 crore for Shramdan

₹ 1,000 crore for Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana

₹ 1,000 crore for Credit Guarantee Fund

₹ 100 crore for Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency

As per the revised fiscal budget, the government has given a total of Rs 1,01,347 crore to 14 central and state government schemes in 2014-15.

In the last budget, the total allocation was Rs 1,02,724 crore, including Rs 97,700 crore for non-Plan expenditure.

By comparison, the NDA government had allocated Rs 99,122 crore for 15 schemes in 2014-15. The 15 schemes included the flagship programs such as ‘Indradhanush’, and ‘Sankalp se Siddhi’.

The finance minister had allocated Rs 72,485 crore for the budgeted schemes and new initiatives in 2013-14. Out of the 14 schemes and new initiatives, 15 have been allocated in the 2015-16 as well.

By 11:38am, market indexes in Mumbai, Delhi, and Bengaluru had soared by 2-3%.

The benchmark BSE Sensex climbed as much as 261 points to 28,349.94 points. The National Stock Exchange’s Nifty 50 surged as much as 44.5 points to 8,837.10 points.

Oil prices edged down as bargain hunters scooped up front-month futures on signs that declining US oil rig activity and a potential freeze on Iranian crude exports may draw down stocks of the commodity.

US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was down 43 cents at $33.86 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, the global benchmark, was down 21 cents at $36.64 a barrel on London’s ICE Futures exchange.

US crude stockpiles dropped 1.6 million barrels for a fifth straight week to the lowest level in nearly 18 years, a sign that low prices are helping draw down supply, a government report showed on Tuesday.

The International Energy Agency cut its forecast for demand growth, saying it would be short of 700,000 barrels per day. It is already well below the 1.5 million bpd it had expected to demand in 2014.

Investors will be looking ahead to the US Federal Reserve’s policy decision scheduled for 1800 GMT on Wednesday, where the central bank is expected to move away from the near-zero interest rate policy it pursued for the past five years.

Policymakers also might take a cue from January data on US employment and the trade deficit, which eased to its lowest level in nearly 3-1/2 years, suggesting the world’s largest economy is gaining steam.

The minutes from the Fed’s January 31-Feb 1 policy meeting, published on Tuesday, indicated that Fed members were worried about downside risks to growth as they awaited evidence the economy was recovering from an anemic first quarter.

However, Fed policymakers also saw the recent market volatility as a source of uncertainty.

The Reserve Bank of India will likely cut its repo rate by 25 basis points at its policy review on Wednesday, a Reuters poll showed, but economists expect no aggressive moves on interest rates this fiscal year.

But the Reserve Bank of India could also offer comfort to investors by providing clarity about its strategy for improving the weak finances of state-run banks, which have been ordered to raise capital from the market.

In his maiden speech in Parliament, Jaitley said that the government will take all necessary measures to ensure that the rupee does not take a “distressing tumble” and that the country’s exports recover as the global economy revives.

“The year 2015 will witness a radical change in the country’s growth prospects,” Jaitley told the lower house of parliament on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, domestic equities rose to two-year highs, buoyed by a strong rally in China stocks, while Asian markets also surged.

The benchmark Sensex rose as much as 151 points to 28,362 points, while the Nifty 50 added 38.45 points to 8,885.85 points.

The 10-year benchmark yield was trading higher at 7.33% from its previous close of 7.30%. 

Indian stocks will remain in a sweet spot if India’s economy grows at 8% to 9%, says Meghnad Desai, group head of equities at Edelweiss Securities Ltd. The BSE Sensex index is expected to climb to 34,000 levels by the end of this year from 25,000 at present, he adds.