Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to present 2023 Economic Survey today
The central government is set to table the 2023 Economic Survey on Tuesday, a day before the Union Budget 2023-24 presentation. After President Droupadi Murmu's address at the joint session of both Parliament houses on the opening of the Budget Session, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the pre-budget document. Here's all you need to know about the 2023 Economic Survey.
Why does this story matter?
The Opposition is set to bring up several issues at the beginning of the Budget Session on Tuesday, including the Centre banning the BBC documentary on PM Narendra Modi and the 2002 Gujarat riots as well as the decline of Adani Group's stocks, among others. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) have boycotted Murmu's address, per news agency ANI.
Purpose of the 2023 Economic Survey
The Economic Survey is a document that offers insights into the condition of the nation's economic performance in the last year and the central government's policy initiatives and also highlights the implementation and performance of major development programs. Furthermore, it also gives an outlook for the coming financial year (2023-24), for which the Budget is scheduled to be presented on Wednesday by Sitharaman.
What is Economic Survey?
The Economic Survey can be simply defined as a pre-Budget document that is traditionally presented a day before the full Union Budget presentation. Under the supervision of the chief economic adviser to the government—this year under V Anantha Nageswaran—the Economic Survey document is put together by the Ministry of Finance's Department of Economic Affairs and is presented to both Parliament houses.
What to expect from 2023 Economic Survey
The 2023 Economic Survey will deliver a detailed breakdown of India's current state of the economy and a review of how it fared this fiscal. It is likely to peg the gross domestic product (GDP) growth for 2023-24 at 6-6.8%, per Reuters. To recall, the 2022 Economic Survey's main theme was "Agile Approach," which emphasized the country's economic response to the COVID-19 pandemic-triggered crisis.
First Economic Survey was tabled in 1950-51
After being presented for the first time in 1950-51, the Economic Survey was tabled as part of the Union Budget documents. However, the document was separated from the Budget documents in the 1960s and presented a day before the actual Union Budget presentation.
IMF predicts India's growth at 6.1% for next fiscal
Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday, in its January update of the World Economic Outlook, predicted that India is likely to record some economic deceleration in the fiscal year 2023. It pegged India's growth at 6.1% from March, compared to 6.8% in the current fiscal. Furthermore, it projected the Indian economy would be the world's fastest-growing as the conditions looked less bleak.
