Editorial Analysis for IAS - Joint Sitting of The Parliament

Economic Survey 2021-2022

 

 

Context:

  • The Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Economic Survey 2021-22 in Parliament today.
  • The highlights of the Economic Survey are as follows:

 

Current Status:

  • Indian economy estimated to grow by 9.2 percent in real terms in 2021-22 (as per first advanced estimates) subsequent to a contraction of 7.3 percent in 2020-21.
  • GDP projected to grow by 8- 8.5 percent in real terms in 2022-23.
  • The year ahead poised for a pickup in private sector investment with the financial system in good position to provide support for economy’s revival.
  • Projection comparable with World Bank and Asian Development Bank’s latest forecasts of real GDP growth of 8.7 percent and 7.5 percent respectively for 2022-23.
  • As per IMF’s latest World Economic Outlook projections, India’s real GDP projected to grow at 9 percent in 2021-22 and 2022-23 and at 7.1 percent in 2023-2024, which would make India the fastest growing major economy in the world for all 3years.
  • Agriculture and allied sectors expected to grow by 3.9 percent; industry by 11.8 percent and services sector by 8.2 percent in 2021-22.
  • On demand side, consumption estimated to grow by 7.0 percent, Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF) by 15 percent, exports by 16.5 percent and imports by 29.4 percent in 2021-22.

Fiscal Developments:

  • The revenue receipts from the Central Government (April to November, 2021) have gone up by 67.2 percent (YoY) as against an expected growth of 9.6 percent in the 2021-22 Budget Estimates (over 2020-21 Provisional Actuals).
  • Gross Tax Revenue registers a growth of over 50 percent during April to November, 2021 in YoY terms.  This performance is strong compared to pre-pandemic levels of 2019-2020 also.
  • During April-November 2021, Capex has grown by 13.5 percent (YoY) with focus on infrastructure-intensive sectors.
  • Sustained revenue collection and a targeted expenditure policy has contained the fiscal deficit for April to November 2021 at 46.2 percent of BE.
  • With the enhanced borrowings on account of COVID-19, the Central Government debt has gone up from 49.1 percent of GDP in 2019-20 to 59.3 percent of GDP in 2020-21 but is expected to follow a declining trajectory with the recovery of the economy.

External Sectors:

  • India’s merchandise exports and imports rebounded strongly and surpassed pre-COVID levels during the current financial year.
  • There was significant pickup in net services with both receipts and payments crossing the pre-pandemic levels, despite weak tourism revenues.
  • Net capital flows were higher at US$ 65.6 billion in the first half of 2021-22, on account of continued inflow of foreign investment, revival in net external commercial borrowings, higher banking capital and additional special drawing rights (SDR) allocation.
  • India’s external debt rose to US $ 593.1 billion at end-September 2021, from US $ 556.8 billion a year earlier, reflecting additional SDR allocation by IMF, coupled with higher commercial borrowings.
  • Foreign Exchange Reserves crossed US$ 600 billion in the first half of 2021-22 and touched US $ 633.6 billion as of December 31, 2021.
  • As of end-November 2021, India was the fourth largest forex reserves holder in the world after China, Japan and Switzerland.

 

Agriculture and Food Management:

  • The Agriculture sector experienced buoyant growth in past two years, accounting for a sizeable 18.8% (2021-22) in Gross Value Added (GVA) of the country registering a growth of 3.6% in 2020-21 and 3.9% in 2021-22.
  • Minimum Support Price (MSP) policy is being used to promote crop diversification.
  • Net receipts from crop production have increased by 22.6% in the latest Situation Assessment Survey (SAS) compared to SAS Report of 2014.
  • Allied sectors including animal husbandry, dairying and fisheries are steadily emerging to be high growth sectors and major drivers of overall growth in agriculture sector.
  • The Livestock sector has grown at a CAGR of 8.15% over the last five years ending 2019-20. It has been a stable source of income across groups of agricultural households accounting for about 15% of their average monthly income.
  • Government facilitates food processing through various measures of infrastructure development, subsidized transportation and support for formalization of micro food enterprises.
  • India runs one of the largest food management programmes in the world.
  • Government has further extended the coverage of food security network through schemes like PM Gareeb Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY).

 

Industry and Infrastructure:

  • Index of Industrial Production (IIP) grew at 17.4 percent (YoY) during April-November 2021 as compared to (-)15.3 percent in April-November 2020.
  • Capital expenditure for the Indian railways has increased to Rs. 155,181 crores in 2020-21 from an average annual of Rs. 45,980 crores during 2009-14 and it has been budgeted to further increase to Rs. 215,058 crores in 2021-22 – a five times increase in comparison to the 2014 level.
  • Extent of road construction per day increased substantially in 2020-21 to 36.5 Kms per day from 28 Kms per day in 2019-20 – a rise of 30.4 percent.
  • Net profit to sales ratio of large corporates reached an all-time high of 10.6 percent in in July-September quarter of 2021-22 despite the pandemic (RBI Study).
  • Introduction of Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, major boost provided to infrastructure-both physical as well as digital, along with measures to reduce transaction costs and improve ease of doing business, would support the pace of recovery.

 

Services:

  • GVA of services crossed pre-pandemic level in July-September quarter of 2021-22; however, GVA of contact intensive sectors like trade, transport, etc.

Source The Hindu