The theme of this year’s Economic Survey is wealth creation, Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) Krishnamurthy Subramanian said in his presentation of the survey.
The Economic Survey 2020, prepared by CEA Subramanian, was tabled by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday. The Survey projected the country’s economic growth at 6-6.5% for the next fiscal year.
India currently faces its worst economic slowdown in a decade. The growth rate fell to 4.5% in the July-September quarter of the year 2019-20.
The survey placed the current fiscal growth at 5% from the projected 7% in the Economic Survey presented in July last year.
'It seems like we've sort of hit a trough and therefore there should be an uptick in growth. Notice here we haven't gone and said it's 7.5% and actually kept it to 6-6.5%,' said Subramanian.
Citing a globalised economy, Subramanian blamed a slowdown affecting a group of countries which has had an effect on India too. He said the long period of time it took for the Sensex to reach 40,000 from 35,000 is reflective of the slowdown.
The CEA said that the latest Economic Survey is a “synthesis of old and new”. He said the lavender colour of the survey's cover was inspired by the new hundred rupee note.
Talking about the theme of wealth creation, he also mentioned that wealth creators should be respected.
“Those who create wealth are indeed India’s wealth,” Subramanian said, while mentioning that this is what the finance minister believes.
In his presentation, he revealed that the government could have spent “almost double the amount” on social sectors, if wealth had not been eroded by willful defaulters.
The survey suggested further work on three fronts: sluggish household spending, embattled non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) and lower tax revenue collections, while keeping an eye on the wobbly world economy.
The CEA introduced 10 new ideas in this Economic Survey for boosting wealth creation. These included pro-business policies, removing anachronistic government interventions, job creation by “assemble in India for the world”, ease of doing business and improving the banking sector.
According to him, India’s aspiration to become a $5 trillion economy depends critically on two factors — strengthening the invisible hand of the market and supporting it with the hand of trust.
Subramanian said that there is no change in the deadline set for achieving a $5 trillion economy. In her budget speech in July last year, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said that India will become a $5 trillion economy by 2024.
