No plan to print more currency to tide over crisis- Sitharaman

The Lok Sabha has passed the Factoring Regulation (Amendment) Bill, 2021 and The National Institutes of Food Technology, Entrepreneurship and Management Bill, 2021 amid pandemonium.Moving the Factoring Regulation (Amendment) Bill on Monday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharam said, the changes have been made in the bill in the interests of MSME sector. She said, it simplifies the definition of factoring business in which banks, Non-Banking Finacial Companies (NBFCs) or any business entity is involved. 
The Minister said, process of sale and acquirement of factory from one entity to another is simplified in this bill. Ms Sitharaman said, the bill widens the scope for entities to involve in factoring business.The second bill, National Institutes of Food Technology, Entrepreneurship and Management Bill, 2021 was also passed by the house. It was moved by Food Processing and Industries Minister Pashupati Kumar Paras.The bill lays down provision for certain institutes of food technology, entrepreneurship and management like National Institute of Food Technology Entrepreneurship and Management at Kundli and the Indian Institute of Food Processing Technology at Thanjavur as institutions of national importance. Both the bills were passed without discussion.

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman also introduced the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Bill 2021, or IBC, in Lok Sabha aimed at reworking some of the processes to deal with small businesses going belly up. The bill was necessitated by the financial stress wrought by the pandemic. The IBC, a reform enacted in 2016, amalgamates various laws relating to the insolvency resolution of business firms. It lays down clear-cut and faster insolvency proceedings to help creditors, such as banks, recover dues and prevent bad loans, a key drag on the economy. Ms Sitharaman told the Lok Sabha that the government does not plan to print more currency to tide over the economic slowdown brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. "The fundamentals of the economy remain strong as gradual scaling back of lockdowns, along with the astute support of the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Mission has placed the economy firmly on the path of recovery from the second half of FY 2020-21," Sitharaman said in a reply to a question by Lok Sabha member Mala Roy on the state of the economy during the coronavirus pandemic.