Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present Budget 2023 on Wednesday. On Tuesday, the Union government will table the Economic Survey of India after President Droupadi Murmu addresses the joint sitting of the Parliament. What is the Economic Survey document? Why is it important? Who prepares it? Here's a brief explainer.
The Economic Survey of India document is prepared by the Ministry of Finance. Specifically, the Economic Division of the Department of Economic Affairs writes the document under the expert supervision of the Chief Economic Adviser.
CEA V Anantha Nageswaran formulated the broad tone and tenor of the annual document. CEA V Anantha Nageswaran will present the document on Budget eve. The document gives insights into the condition of the country's economy via economic indicator figures. He will also outline the government's economic outlook for the next year.
The Economic Survey also acts as a precursor to the Union Budget as it broadly outlines the texture of the budget document.
The practice of tabling the economic survey came into existence in the financial year 1950-51. Earlier, it used to be a part of the budget documents. It became a separate exercise in the 1960s. Since then, the Economic Survey of India is tabled a day before the Union Budget.
The most important part of this document is the central theme. This facet of the document reveals the Central government's economic approach for the next year. For instance, last year's central theme was 'Agile Approach'. This theme emphasised India's plan to revive economic growth after the coronavirus pandemic-induced economic shock.
For FY 2022-23, the Economic Survey had said that the Agile approach entailed real-time monitoring of actual outcomes, flexible responses, safety-net buffers and so on.
The Economic Survey has sector-based chapters. It also adds need-based chapters.
The Economic Survey tabled in 2022 projected India's GDP growth of 8.0-8.5 per cent in 2022-23, which the government felt will be supported by widespread vaccine coverage, gains from supply-side reforms and easing of regulations, robust export growth, and availability of fiscal space to ramp up capital spending.
Budget 2023 will likely be the last full budget read out by the Narendra Modi government before the 2024 general elections. This budget will be in a paper-less form, pretty much like the last budget.
The budget document can be accessed on the Union Budget Mobile App after the speech is delivered by Sitharaman.
With inputs from ANI
