5 things from the Economic Survey 2023 you need to know ahead of Budget

The union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tabled the Economic Survey 2022–23 in Parliament on Tuesday, January 31. The survey pegged India's GDP growth in a broad range of 6–6.8 percent for the year 2023–2024, depending on the trajectory of economic developments globally.

In contrast to the previous year's Economic Survey, which highlighted the Indian economy's recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, this year's survey has different dimensions.

Highlights of the Economic Survey

• India will continue to remain the world's fastest-growing major economy. For the fiscal year that ends in March 2023, the economy is predicted to grow at a real rate of 7%. This comes after a growth of 8.7% in the previous fiscal year.
• Given the elevated global commodity prices and the continued strength of the economic growth momentum, the CAD may continue to widen.
• India is the world's third-largest economy by purchasing power parity ( PPP) and the fifth-largest by exchange rate. 
• Private consumption, higher capital expenditures, a stronger corporate balance sheet, more financing for small enterprises, and the return of migrant workers to cities are the main drivers of growth.
• The RBI anticipates inflation to be 6.8 percent this fiscal year, which is higher than the upper target limit but not high enough to deter private consumption or too low to reduce incentives for investing.

Main areas of focus

• State of the Economy
• Fiscal Developments
• External Sector
• Monetary Management and Financial Intermediation
• Prices and Inflation
• Sustainable Development and Climate Change
• Agriculture and Food Management
• Industry and Infrastructure
• Services
• Social Infrastructure and Employment
• Tracking Development through Satellite Images and Cartography

What is an economic survey?

The Department of Economic Affairs at the Ministry of Finance's Economic Division prepared the Economic Survey, a pre-budget report, with the guidance of the Chief Economic Adviser (V. Anantha Nageswaran this year). During the budget session, it is presented to both Houses of Parliament.

In 1950–1951, the first economic survey was tabled, and it formerly made up the budget documents. The survey was presented a day before the Union Budget later in the 1960s, separated from the budget documents.