• Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman chaired the 43rd GST Council meeting through video conferencing in New Delhi on 12 October 2020.
• Sitharaman announced several measures to boost capital expenditure and stimulate consumer demand in the economy, which are are estimated to cost Rs 73,000 crore by 31 March 2021.

The major highlights of the announcements made during the meeting are listed below:

• Rs 12,000 crore interest-free 50-year loan to states for spending only on capital projects in a bid to boost economy.
• Out of this, Rs 1,600 crore will be for north-eastern states and Rs 900 crore will be for Uttrakhand and Himachal Pradesh, Rs 7,500 crore for the remaining states. Rs 2,000 crore will be given to states that fulfill pre-stated reforms.
• Additional capital expenditure of Rs 25,000 crore. This will be provided over and above the existing Rs 4.13 lakh crore allotted in the annual budget.
• The additional money will be for spending on roads, defence infrastructure, water supply and urban development, defence infrastructure and domestically produced capital equipment.
• LTC Cash Voucher Scheme and Special Festival Advance Scheme to primarily benefit central government employees.
• The schemes will generate additional consumer demand of Rs. 36,000 crore by March 31, 2021. This would include Rs 28,000 crore through LTC voucher scheme and Rs 8,000 crore through festival advance scheme.

Leave Travel Concession (LTC) Cash Voucher Schemes :

• Central government employees get leave travel concession in a block of four years, but due to the covid-19 pandemic, employees will not be able to avail the LTC in the 2018-21 year block. 
• So the government will pay the entitled fare as cash vouchers, which employees could use to make purchases of their choice. This should be spent by March 31, 2021.
• An employee opting for this scheme will have to buy goods and services worth three times the fare and one time leave encashment, and only on goods attracting GST of 12% or more and only digital payments will be allowed.

Special Festival Advance Scheme :

• The festival advance and other similar advances were abolished under the 7th Pay Commission. But the government has proposed to restore the festival advances to Government employees for festivals upto 1st January 2021.
• Under this, all Central Government employees will get an interest-free advance of Rs 10,000, in the form of a prepaid RuPay Card. This needs to be spent by March 31, 2021.
• The amount should be paid back in 10 instalments.