Union Budget Economic Survey: The Budget session this year is set to kick off on January 31, Monday, with President of India Ram Nath Kovind addressing both the Houses of the Parliament. After the President officially commences the Budget session, the ministry of finance will table the the Economic Survey 2021-22 before the Parliament.
What is the Economic Survey?
Economic Survey is a flagship document of the ministry of finance, which is presented before the Parliament ahead of the Budget presentation. It is a detailed document on how the country has performed in the preceding year, with the government suggesting ways to boost its development.
The survey is generally prepared under the leadership the Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) of India. However, this year, the Economic Survey 2021-22 has been prepared by other senior officials in the absence of a CEA.
Economic Survey 2021-22 Expectations
According to reports, the finance ministry is expected to come out with a single volume Economic Survey for 2021-22 in absence of a CEA. The Survey, which is tabled in Parliament by the finance minister ahead of the Union Budget, is being prepared by Principal Economic Advisor and other officials in absence of the chief economic advisor (CEA). The government has appointed Anantha Nageshwaran as the new CEA only on Friday, January 28, before which the document had been prepared.
The Economic Survey 2021-22 is likely to project a growth of around 9 per cent for the next financial year. The economy, as per the advance estimates of the National Statistical Office (NSO), is expected to record a growth of 9.2 per cent during the current fiscal, which is a tad lower than 9.5 per cent projected by the Reserve Bank.
On account of the outbreak of Covid-19 and subsequent nation-wide lockdown to check the spread of the virus, the economy contracted by 7.3 per cent during 2020-21. The impact of virus on the economy was comparatively less during the current financial year as the lockdowns were local in nature and did not cause large-scale disruption in economic activity. The Survey is expected to project a growth of about 9 per cent for the next financial year, experts said citing base effect.
Last year, the Union Budget laid its focus on the healthcare sector but only 1.8 per cent of the GDP to health at the time. This year too, the Budget 2022 is supposed to focus on the same sector, and the Economic Survey is expected to be in line with the Budget.
The Survey is also expected to lay focus on the divestment target of the government, which has not been met yet as per the finance minister’s presentation in the last Union Budget.
The Economic Survey 2020-21, released in January last year, had projected GDP growth of 11 per cent during the current financial year ending March 2022.
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