About Economic Survey

• Economic Survey, presented in the Parliament ahead of the Union Budget, is the Ministry of Finance’s flagship document.
• The Economic Survey detailed information about the Indian economy over the past year.
• The Economic Survey also offers glimpses into the current state of the economy, and occasional insights into the economic outlook.
• Although the Constitution does not bind the government to present the Economic Survey, over the years, it has become common practice for every government to present the Economic Survey before the Union Budget.

Authors of Economic Survey

• The Economic Survey is prepared under the guidance of the Chief Economic Advisor and is presented in both the houses of Parliament, a day before the announcement of the Union Budget.

Significance of Economic Survey

• The Economic Survey holds significance as it apprises common people about the state of economic affairs of the country and makes them aware of the key economic decisions of the government which impact their lives in a considerable way.
• The Economic Survey also recommends policy changes to the government, which are, however, not binding but only act as a guide in framing national policies.
• It contains forecasts about the economic growth of the country and the reasons outlining the projection.

A brief history of the Economy Survey

• The first Economic Survey was presented in the year 1950-51.
• Until 1964, it was presented along with the Union Budget, but later it was disjointed from the Union Budget to give a better understanding of the budget proposals.
• As the Economic Survey contains a detailed analysis of the economic development of the country and a lot of data related to various sectors of the economy, it works as a useful tool providing background knowledge.
• Former Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian in 2018 had for the first time released the document in pink colour.
• The idea was to support women who suffer violence and to push for more gender equality.
• Not just the colour of the document, he revamped the whole document by making it more interesting with quotes and additional information.
• This was the first time that the Economic Survey used data generated by GST Network and the Indian Railways to see the flow of goods and people across states within India.