New Delhi, Nov 12 (IANS): Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said the Indian economy was witnessing a strong recovery.

Addressing the media here, Sitharaman cited several data, including the growth in Composite Purchase Managers Index (PMI), GST collections, FDI inflow and the stock markets' recent surge to record highs to show a strong revival of the Indian economy.

She also said that bank credit has grown by 5.1 per cent on a year-on-year basis. FDI inflows in April-August stood at $35.37 billion, 13 per cent higher on a year-on-year basis.

The minister noted that prominent economists have suggested that the rebound has not come only due to pent-up demand but also because of "strong economic growth".

She added that Moody's also has scaled up India's GDP growth estimate for the FY22 to 8.6 per cent now from 8.1 per cent earlier.

The RBI in its latest monthly bulletin said that India has technically entered into a recession with a likely contraction in its GDP during the July-September period.

RBI's Economic Activity Index estimates that India's GDP growth for the second quarter of the current financial year was negative and the GDP contracted by 8.6 per cent during the quarter.

The Central bank, however, noted that growth is likely in the third quarter of the current quarter, which was also cited by the Finance Minister to show a revival of the Indian economy.

FM announces new employment scheme with EPFO support for 2 years

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday announced 'Atmanirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana' to incentivise creation of new employment opportunities during the Covid-recovery phase.

The employment scheme effective from October 1 will be applicable to eligible new employees joining the EPFO-registered establishments and for those who exited these concerns during the COVID pandemic (March 1-September 30, 2020) and drawing monthly wages of less than Rs 15,000.

Under the scheme, the central government will subsidise the Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) contributions for two years.

The Centre will provide 12 per cent of the contributions of both employers and the employee for establishments with up to 1,000 employees.

In the case of establishments with over 1,000 employees, the Centre will only subsidise 12 per cent of the employees' EPF contributions.

The establishments eligible for the scheme include those that added a specified number of employees compared with the base month of September 2020.