Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan: ₹20 Lakh Crore Economic Package

What was Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan?

On 12 May 2020, the Prime Minister announced a special economic and comprehensive package of approximately ₹20 lakh crore. The Government stated that the package was equivalent to about 10% of India's GDP at that time. Its stated objective was to strengthen India's capacity to withstand the economic disruption caused by COVID-19 and to promote a more self-reliant economy.

The Finance Minister subsequently presented detailed measures through a series of press conferences from 13 May to 17 May 2020. The package covered businesses and MSMEs, migrant workers, agriculture, street vendors, housing, power, civil aviation, defence, public-sector policy, health, education and other sectors.

Five pillars of Aatma Nirbhar Bharat

• Economy
• Infrastructure
• System
• Vibrant demography
• Demand

Breakup of the 2020 Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Package

The original page recorded the following announced components. These figures describe the 2020 package and should not be read as current budget allocations.

The wider ₹20 lakh crore figure announced by the Government incorporated earlier fiscal and monetary measures in addition to the tranches presented in May 2020.

Measures for Businesses and MSMEs

Collateral-free automatic loans

The package announced up to ₹3 lakh crore in collateral-free automatic loans for eligible businesses, including MSMEs. This measure later operated through the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme framework and was subject to subsequent extensions and modifications.

Fund of Funds for MSMEs

A Fund of Funds with a corpus of ₹10,000 crore was announced to provide equity support to viable and growth-oriented MSMEs. The Government expected this structure to help leverage substantially larger equity funding.

Subordinate debt for stressed MSMEs

The package also announced ₹20,000 crore of subordinate debt support for stressed or non-performing MSMEs, subject to the operational scheme conditions.

NBFC, HFC and MFI Liquidity Measures

A Special Liquidity Scheme of ₹30,000 crore was announced for investment in investment-grade debt instruments of NBFCs, Housing Finance Companies and Micro Finance Institutions. The package also provided for liquidity support of up to ₹45,000 crore under the Partial Credit Guarantee Scheme.

Employee Provident Fund Measures

Under the COVID-period relief framework, the Government supported eligible establishments and workers through specified employer and employee EPF contributions under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan package.

The statutory PF contribution rate for certain establishments was temporarily reduced from 12% to 10% for a limited period in 2020. This was a time-bound COVID relief measure and is not a continuing general reduction in the statutory rate.

Support for Street Vendors

The package announced working-capital support for street vendors, with an initial loan of up to ₹10,000 per vendor. This policy initiative led to the PM Street Vendor's AtmaNirbhar Nidhi, commonly known as PM SVANidhi, which operates under its own current guidelines.

Agriculture and Allied-Sector Measures

Kisan Credit and concessional finance

The package announced a concessional credit boost for farmers through Kisan Credit Cards, targeting additional institutional credit for eligible farmers.

Agriculture Infrastructure Fund

A ₹1 lakh crore Agriculture Infrastructure Fund was announced to support farm-gate and aggregation-point infrastructure, including projects involving cooperatives and Farmer Producer Organisations.

Emergency working capital

An additional ₹30,000 crore emergency working-capital support was announced through NABARD-related channels for rural cooperative banks and regional rural banks.

Fisheries

The package included support under the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana, with allocations for marine and inland fisheries, aquaculture and related infrastructure.

Animal husbandry

A ₹15,000 crore Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund was announced to encourage private investment in dairy processing, value addition and cattle-feed infrastructure.

CAMPA employment support

Expenditure under Compensatory Afforestation Management and Planning Authority funds was proposed to generate employment, including work opportunities for tribal communities.

Migrant Workers and Urban Poor

One Nation One Ration Card

The package accelerated nationwide portability of food-ration benefits under the One Nation One Ration Card initiative, enabling eligible beneficiaries to access subsidised foodgrains away from their home location.

Free foodgrain support

Emergency foodgrain support was announced for migrant workers during the COVID-19 disruption. This was a temporary relief measure linked to the conditions prevailing in 2020.

Affordable Rental Housing Complexes

The Government announced Affordable Rental Housing Complexes for migrant workers and the urban poor as a sub-scheme under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban), subject to applicable guidelines.

Structural and Sectoral Reforms

State borrowing limit

For financial year 2020-21, the borrowing limit of States was increased from 3% to 5% of Gross State Domestic Product, with part of the additional borrowing linked to specified reform conditions. This was explicitly a 2020-21 measure.

Public Sector Enterprise policy

The package announced a new policy approach for Public Sector Enterprises, with strategic sectors to retain a limited public-sector presence and non-strategic sectors opened to privatisation, merger, subsidiarisation or closure depending on government policy.

Civil aviation

Measures included more efficient use of Indian airspace and additional public-private partnership participation in airport development.

Defence production

The package proposed measures to promote domestic defence manufacturing, including a higher foreign direct investment limit under the automatic route and increased emphasis on indigenous production.

Coal and minerals

Structural reforms were announced for commercial coal mining, mineral-sector investment and infrastructure for coal evacuation.

Power and Energy Measures

The package announced ₹90,000 crore of liquidity support for electricity distribution companies. It also proposed investment in coal-evacuation infrastructure and reforms in the power sector.

Housing Measures

The Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme for the Middle Income Group under PMAY-Urban was extended during the COVID period, with the aim of supporting housing demand and related investment. The extension mentioned in the original package was time-bound and is not a current entitlement.

Social-Sector Measures

MGNREGS

An additional ₹40,000 crore was announced for MGNREGS in 2020-21 to support rural employment during the pandemic-related disruption.

Public health

The Government announced increased investment in public health, including stronger rural and urban health institutions and preparedness for future health emergencies.

Technology-driven education

The package announced PM eVIDYA for multi-mode digital and online education, together with other education initiatives intended to address learning disruption during the pandemic period.

Viability Gap Funding

Enhanced Viability Gap Funding support was announced for qualifying social infrastructure projects, subject to the applicable scheme conditions.

Current Relevance of Aatma Nirbhar Bharat

Aatma Nirbhar Bharat evolved beyond the emergency package into a broader policy theme covering domestic manufacturing, resilient supply chains, infrastructure, MSME development, strategic-sector capacity and self-reliance. However, the individual financial measures announced in May 2020 must be assessed separately because several were temporary, were subsequently modified, or now operate through successor schemes.

For present-day applications, always verify the current notification or official portal of the relevant programme rather than relying solely on the original 2020 package announcement.