Page 53 - BF Cover February 2019

BUDGET

animal husbandry and fisheries. marginal farmers, at an estimated cost of Rs 75,000
♦ "Urgent action needed to increase hydrocarbon crore.
production to decrease imports; change in bidding ♦ The 22nd AIIMS to come up in Haryana
procedure and exploration procedure being ♦ Vande Bharat Express, an indigenously developed semi
implemented," Goyal added. high-speed train, to be launched
♦ Committee under NITI Aayog to be set up to identify ♦ One lakh digital villages planned in the next five years
and denotify nomadic and semi-nomadic communities; ♦ National Artificial Intelligence portal to be developed
Welfare Development Board to be set up under Ministry soon
of Social Justice and Empowerment for welfare of these ♦ ESI cover limit increased to Rs. 21,000. Minimum
hard-to-reach communities and for tailored strategic
pension also increased to Rs. 1000.
interventions. ♦ The 4R approach has been implemented to ensure
♦ Mega Pension Yojana, namely Pradhan Mantri Shram
clean banking -
Yogi Mandhan, to provide assured monthly pension of ♦ 1. Recognition 2. Resolution 3. Recapitalisation 4.
3000 rupees per month, with contribution of 100
Reforms
rupees per month, for workers in unorganised sector
♦ "We controlled double-digit inflation. Inflation is a
after 60 years of age
♦ "(This) will benefit 10 crore workers in unorganized hidden and unfair tax; from 10.1% during 2009-14,
inflation in December 2018 was just 2.1%. We have
sector, may become the world's biggest pension scheme
broken the back of back-breaking inflation," Goyal said.
for unorganized sector in five years," Goyal said.
♦ Under Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi, 6000 ♦ Fiscal deficit has been bought down to 3.4%; CAD
rupees per year for each farmer, in three installments, (current account deficit) likely to be 2.5% of GDP this
to be transferred directly to farmers' bank accounts, year.
for farmers with less than 2 hectares land holding. ♦ The finance minister laid out vision for 10 most
♦ Decision taken to increase MSP (minimum support important dimensions in 2030, including job creation,
price) by 1.5 times the production cost for all 22 crops. physical and social infrastructure building, pollution-free
This initiative is likely to benefit 12 crore small and nation and clean rivers.

DHFL accused of Rs.31,000-crore fraud

Website Cobrapost claimed that its team of investigative journalists had unearthed "the biggest banking scam" in
the country's history. At a press conference, it accused the primary promoters of Dewan Housing Finance Limited
(DHFL) of siphoning off more than Rs.31,000 crore of public money through secured and unsecured loans and advances
to shell companies, round tripping, tax avoidance and insider trading.
"Money has also been routed through these dubious companies and parked outside India, to acquire assets," the
website said in a press release. DHFL rejected the allegations as "mischievous misadventure" done with mala fide
intent and said it had met all its obligations to the lenders and paid them back over Rs.17,000 crore in the last three
months.
DHFL's primary stakeholders, Kapil Wadhawan, Aruna Wadhawan and Dheeraj Wadhawan, used their proxies and
associates to buy shares/equity and other private assets in India and abroad, the website alleged. "By lending to
shell/pass-through companies without due diligence, DHFL has ensured that the recovery of such dubious loans is
impossible since the companies or their directors themselves do not own any assets.
"This way the private assets acquired by the Wadhawans and their associates by using the funds from these dubious
loans are completely ring-fenced from any recovery process that may be initiated by authorities under the SARFAESI
Act or IBC. Thus, the only losers in the process would be the public sector banks, such as SBI and Bank of Baroda,
with an exposure of over Rs.11,000 crore and Rs.4,000 crore, respectively, foreign banks and shareholders from
among the public or investors of DHFL," said Cobrapost editor Aniruddha Bahal.

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