Economic Survey Tabled In Parliament Ahead Of Budget. What Is It

The Union government is set to present the Economic Survey 2023-24 in both houses of Parliament today. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will table the pre-budget document in Parliament, a day ahead of the full Budget presentation for 2024-25.

The Economic Survey 2023-24 will be presented in Lok Sabha at 1 pm and in Rajya Sabha at 2 pm, followed by a press conference by Chief Economic Adviser Anantha Nageswaran.

This year's Budget will be keenly watched as several major economies in the world have been struggling. India, on the other hand, has retained its tag as the fastest-growing economy.

What is an Economic Survey

The Economic Survey document, prepared by the Economic Division of the Department of Economic Affairs in the Ministry of Finance and formulated under the supervision of the chief economic adviser, will give insights into the state of the economy and various indicators of 2023-24 (April-March) and some outlook for the current year.

It is a report card on the economy and presents the growth outlook. The survey gives a detailed account of the state of the economy, prospects and policy challenges.

The Economic Survey provides statistical information and analysis on various sectors of the economy as well as data on employment, GDP growth, inflation, and the budget deficit.

History of Economic Survey

The first economic survey reportedly came into existence in 1950-51, when it used to be a part of the budget documents. In the 1960s, it was separated from the Budget documents and presented the day before the Union Budget.

The most important feature that many will look out for is its central theme.

In 2022, the central theme was 'Agile Approach', which emphasized on India's economic response to the COVID-19 pandemic shock. In 2023, it was 'recovery complete', when the economy staged a broad-based recovery from pandemic-induced contraction, Russian-Ukraine conflict, and inflation, and ascended to the pre-pandemic growth path.

Typically, along with the sectoral chapters, the Survey document also adds new need-based chapters that need focus.

All eyes will be on the major announcements made by the finance minister and the government's forward-looking guidance about the overall economy.

With this upcoming budget presentation, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will surpass the record set by former Prime Minister Morarji Desai, who presented five annual budgets and one interim budget between 1959 and 1964 as finance minister. Sitharaman's upcoming budget speech will be her seventh. Sitharaman has surpassed Manmohan Singh, Arun Jaitley, P. Chidambaram, and Yashwant Sinha, who each presented five budgets.