Economic Survey 2024: What was the previous survey all about?

The Economic Survey 2024 was tabled in the Lok Sabha by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman on July 22. The Economic Survey provides a summary of the performance of the Indian economy, government policies, and the outlook for the upcoming financial year.

This year the government presented ‘The Indian Economy: A Review’ on January 31, instead of the full economic survey, due to the impending general elections.

Here’s a brief overview of the last economic survey released in 2023, a day before the presentation of the budget.

State of Indian economy

The Indian economy showed recovery after the pandemic and is expected to grow at 6.5 per cent to 7 per cent in FY23. Global economic issues such as pandemic, Russia-Ukraine war, monetary tightening and rising inflation, slow down of economic activity in China have been a challenge. Pent-up demand led to rising personal loans and growth in the housing sector.

Capital Expenditure by the government improved construction activity. The government aimed to bring in private investment through increased capital expenditure. Rising export demand and rebound in consumption improved the growth of the manufacturing sector.

The banking sector fulfilled the credit demand. Credit has improved in the MSME sector too. Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme protected MSMEs from pandemic distress.

The urban employment rate declined to 7.2% in Q2 FY23. The survey also stated that a healthy balance sheet of corporates, digitisation of policies, resilience to global issues will promote growth in this decade.

Fiscal deficit

The fiscal deficit went down to 6.7% in FY22 from 9.2% in FY21 due to the pandemic.

The gross tax revenue grew by 15.5% from April to November 2022 on a year-on-year basis. The government increased excise duty on petrol and diesel. The government cut excise duty on oil due to inflationary pressures. The GST collections grew by 24.8% from April to December 2022. The government earned ₹4.07 lakh crore through strategic disinvestment. The government debt moderated from 59.2% in FY21 to 56.7% in FY22.

Monetary policy

Globally, countries adopted tighter monetary policy due to inflation. The capital market did not perform well globally. The Indian markets, however, performed well.

The Reserve Bank of India increased the repo rate from 4% to 6.25% between May to December 2022. The deposit and lending rates in the banks also increased.

The trading volume of government securities recorded a two-year high growth of 6.3% on a year-on-year basis.

This period also marked the initial public offering of state-run insurer LIC, the country's largest IPO.

Inflation

The domestic inflation reached 7.8% mainly due to rising food prices especially in rural areas.

The government regulated export of wheat flour, maida and suji to control prices and imposed a 20% export duty on rice. To stabilise the prices of pulses, the government maintained buffer stocks. Duty on refined palm oil and crude oil was reduced and stock limit was set for edible oils. The difference between rural and urban inflation declined in this period.

Social infrastructure

According to the survey, social expenditure has risen steadily. Expenditure on the healthcare sector has moved towards 2.5% of GDP as recommended by National Health Policy. According to the survey, 16.4% of the population was classified as multi-dimensionally poor.