Cabinet Approval on September 29, 2021

The Union Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the following important initiatives on September 29, 2021.

• Continuation of NEIA scheme with Rs 1,650 crore Infusion
• Doubling of Nimach-Ratlam Railway Line
• Doubling of Rajkot-Kanalus Railway Line
• Listing of ECGC through IPO on stock exchanges
• Approved Investment of Rs 4,400 crore in ECGC
• Continuation of Mid-Day Meal Scheme; Renamed as POSHAN

Approved Continuation of NEIA scheme with Rs 1,650 crore Infusion

The government has approved the continuation of the National Export Insurance Account (NEIA) scheme with the contribution of Grant-in-aid of Rs 1,650 Crore over a period of 5 years, i.e. from FY22 to FY26.

• Benefit of corpus contribution: It will improve the underwriting capacity of NEIA and will enable NEIA to support project exports worth Rs 33,000 Crore at full capacity utilization that in turn will translate into an estimated output of domestically manufactured goods to the tune of Rs 25,000 Crore.

About NEIA:

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

ii.It promotes Medium and Long Term (MLT) /project exports by extending (partial/full) support to covers issued by ECGC to MLT/project export made and to Exim Bank for Buyer’s Credit (BC-NEIA) tied to project exports from India.

iii.It will help the Indian Project Exporters (IPE) to use the potential of project exports in the focus market.

NEIA- Performance highlights:

i.The corpus commitment of GOI is Rs 4000 crore and Maximum Liability Permissible is 20 times of the actual corpus.

ii.As of March 31, 2021, it has received contributions of Rs 3,091 crore from the Government of India over the years.

iii.Since its establishment, NEIA has extended 213 covers, with a consolidated project value of Rs 53,000 crores to 52 countries as of 31st August 2021. Its impact in enabling project exports has been most significant in Africa and South Asia.

Other Approvals:

• Extension of Foreign Trade Policy (2015-20) up to 31 March 2022.
• Help create 2.6 lakh new jobs, including around 12,000 in formal sector.
• Roll out of Remission of Duties and Taxes and Exported Products (RoDTEP) with a sanctioned amount of Rs. 12,454 crore in FY 2021-22.
• 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.

Approved Doubling of Nimach-Ratlam Railway Line

The cabinet has approved the doubling of the Nimach-Ratlam railway line in Madhya Pradesh at a total estimated cost of Rs 1,095.88 crore and completion cost is Rs.1,184.67 crore.

• The total length of the doubling of the Nimach-Ratlam railway line is 132.92 km and the project will be completed in 4 years.

Other Approvals:

Additional freight traffic of 5.67 million ton per annum is expected from 1st year which will increase to 9.45 million ton per annum in 11th year.

Approved Doubling of Rajkot-Kanalus Railway Line

The Union Cabinet approved the doubling of the Rajkot-Kanalus railway line in Gujarat at a total estimated cost of Rs 1,080.58 crore and its escalated / completion cost is Rs.1,168.13 crore.

• The total length of the doubling of the Rajkot-Kanalus line is 111.20 km. The project will be completed in 4 years.

Approved listing of ECGC through IPO on stock exchanges:

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by PM Narendra Modi has approved the listing of ECGC (Formerly known as Export Credit Guarantee Corporation Ltd.), an unlisted Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSE) through the Initial Public Offer (IPO) on the Stock Exchange under the SEBI’s (Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2018.

About ECGC:

i.ECGC Ltd is a wholly-owned CPSE of the Government of India set up to improve the competitiveness of the exports by providing Credit Risk Insurance and related services for exports.

ii.It plans to increase its maximum liabilities (ML) from Rs 1.00 lakh crore to Rs 2.03 lakh crore by 2025-26.

iii.The listing would enable ECGC to mobilize fresh capital from the market either through the same IPO or a Follow-on Public Offer (FPO).

Note – Exports have totalled $185 billion in FY22 till September 21, 2021.

Approved Rs 4,400 crore Investment in ECGC

The Government approved capital infusion of Rs 4,400 crore to ECGC Ltd. (formerly known as Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India Ltd.) over a period of 5 years, i.e. from FY22 to FY26.

Objective: 

i.The capital will be infused in instalments thereby increasing the capacity to underwrite risks up to Rs 88,000 crore.

ii.The capital infusion will enable ECGC to issue covers that can support additional exports of Rs 5.28 lakh crore over the 5-year.

Note – As per the report of the World Bank (WB) and International Labour Organisation (ILO), ‘Export to Jobs’ in February 2019, Rs 5.28 lakh crore exports will lead to the formalization of 2.6 lakh workers and the total number of workers (both formal and informal) will increase by 59 lakhs.

ECGC – Performance highlights:

i.ECGC had an 85 percent market share in the export credit insurance market in India and it supported Rs.6.02 lakh crore exports in FY21, which is around 28 percent of India’s merchandise exports.

ii.As of March 2021, 7,372 exporters were benefited through ECGC and 9,535 were benefited under Export Credit Insurance for Banks 97 percent of which are small exporters.

iii.ECGC insures around 50 percent of total export credit disbursement by banks, covering 22 banks (12 Public Sector Banks and 10 Private Sector Banks).

iv.ECGC has a database of over 5 lakh overseas buyers and it has settled claims of more than Rs 7,500 crore in the last decade.

v.It has invested $ 11.7 million in Africa Trade Insurance (ATI) so as to facilitate Indian exports to the African market.

Other Approvals:

Cabinet Released Rs 56,027 crore in September 2021 to liquidate all pending arrears.

Approved the Continuation of Mid-Day Meal Scheme; Renamed as PM POSHAN

i.The Union Cabinet has approved the continuation of the Centrally Sponsored National Scheme ‘National Scheme for Mid-Day Meal in Schools’ popularly known as Mid-Day Meal Scheme in Schools for 5 more years, till FY26.

ii.Modification: Cabinet has approved renaming the Mid-Day Meal Scheme into PM POSHAN (Pradhan Mantri POshan SHAkti Nirman).

iii.The scheme was approved with a financial outlay of Rs 54,062 crore from the Central Government and Rs 31,733 crore from State Governments and Union Territory administrations.Central Government will also bear additional cost of about ₹ 45,000 crore on foodgrains.

• The total budget of the scheme will be Rs 1,30,795 crore.

So far, the scheme has covered all school children studying in Classes 1st to 8th of around 11.80 crore children in 11.20 lakh government and Government-Aided Schools.

v.Under the scheme, 24 lakhs more children in pre-primary classes were covered under the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS). In 2020, the government opened pre-schools called Balvatikas attached to Anganwadis.

vi.The scheme is continuing to follow the 60:40 split in expenses by the Centre and states.

Note – Mid Day Meals scheme in School was first started in 1995 as an initiative to improve enrolment in schools.

Recent Related News:

In August 2021, the cabinet approved the ratification of the Kigali Amendment for phase-down of Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) by India under the Montreal Protocol to prevent greenhouse gas emission.

About Ministry of Education: 

Union Minister – Dharmendra Pradhan (Constituency – Madhya Pradesh)
Minister of State – Annpurna Devi (Kodarma, Jharkhand), Subhas Sarkar (Bankura, West Bengal), Dr. Rajkumar Ranjan Singh (Inner Manipur, Manipur).