Development plans to COVID impact: All eyes on Economic Survey

The Budget session of Parliament, which starts on Friday (January 29), will kick off with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presenting the Economic Survey of India 2020-21.

Chief Economic Adviser (CEA) K.V. Subramanian, who is the architect of the report, will address a press conference at 2.30 pm the same day, the finance ministry said.

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Subramanian prepared his first Economic Survey in 2019 when he set a target of achieving 8% Gross domestic product (GDP) growth to make India a $5-trillion economy by 2024-25.

The year 2020-21 has been a year Subramanian would love to erase from his record book. The economy contracted by an unimaginable 23.9% year-on-year (YoY) in the April-June quarter – a first in last 40 years. For the July-September quarter, India’s GDP contracted 7.5% year-on-year.

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The Economic Survey report is critical as it provides an insight into how the Indian economy performed in the last 12 months. The 2020-21 report is expected to give the roadmap to get the economy out of the impact of COVID pandemic.

The 2020-21 report is expected to provide a detailed assessment of how coronavirus affected the Indian economy, besides detailing government’s development programmes and its policy initiatives. The report is also expected to present the short to medium-term prospects of the Indian economy.

The report is also likely to give a broader view on vital economic factors like exports, imports, infrastructure, agricultural and industrial production, jobs, foreign exchange reserves among others.

Presenting the Economic Survey before the budget is an old tradition. It was first presented in 1950-51 and submitted in the Lok Sabha along with the Union Budget until 1964. This time it will be presented three days before the budget presentation, which happens on February 1.