New Delhi, Jul 1 (KNN) The Union Cabinet has approved the additional funding up to Rs 1.50 lakh crore under the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) to support businesses amid the pandemic.

The scheme would be applicable to all eligible loans sanctioned under Guaranteed Emergency Credit Line (GECL) till September 30, 2021, or till an amount of Rs 4.50 lakh crore is sanctioned under the GECL, whichever is earlier.

Further, on account of the disruptions caused by the second wave of COVID-19, especially on healthcare sector, the Union Cabinet has approved Loan Guarantee Scheme for Covid Affected Sectors (LGSCAS) enabling funding to the tune of Rs 50,000 crore to provide financial guarantee cover for brownfield expansion and greenfield projects related to health or medical infrastructure.

According to an official statement, the LGSCAS has been formulated as a specific response to an exceptional situation the country has witnessed due to lack of adequate health infrastructure in the light of second wave of COVID-19.

Meanwhile, the Cabinet has also given its approval for extending the terminal date for registration of beneficiaries for availing the benefit under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Rojgar Yojana (ABRY) for another nine months -- from June 30, 2021 to March 31, 2022.

Consequent upon this extension, it is expected that 71.8 lakh employment will be generated in the formal sector as against the earlier projection of 58.5 lakh.

As on June 18, 2021, benefit amounting to Rs 902 crore has been given to 21.42 Lakh beneficiaries through 79,577 establishments under ABRY.

Estimated expenditure of the scheme including the expenditure for the proposed extended period of registration up to March 31, 2020 will be Rs 22,098 crore.

This scheme is being implemented through the Employees Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) to reduce the financial burden of the employers of various sectors/industries and to encourage them to hire more workers.

Under ABRY, establishments registered with EPFO and their new employees drawing a monthly wage of less than Rs 15,000/- are being benefited if the establishment recruits new employees or those who lost their job between March 1, 2020 to September 30, 2020.