Economic Survey 2023-24: Key Highlights

The Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India addressed the Press Conference on Economic Survey 2023-24 at 2:30 pm Today. Dr. V. Anantha Nageswaran gave a brief on Economic Survey 2023-24.  The Economic Adviser says that there should be a balance between deployment of AI and labour.

India is poised to remain the fastest growing major economy in FY 25. The economic survey forecasts a GDP growth of 6.5-7% noting that the market expectations are on the higher side, says the Economic Survey. India’s per capital income has grown more than seven times since 1990.

“We have come from 348 dollars to 2,500 dollars. So, we have come through global environments, different environments and political arrangements ..etc and still the long term trajectory is clear. So we can get where we want to get and we will get there far better if we are aware of the kind challenges we face and that is the core message of the economic survey as well”, says Dr. V. Anantha Nageswaran

The following are the key highlights provided by the Chief Economic Adviser in the press meet.

Indian Economy : Review

1. GDP growth remains steady in FY 24
2. Steady private consumption while investment emerges as a growth driver.
3. Investment being driven by private and public capex with households also pitching in
4. Private corporate capex grew by 19.8% to Rs. 8.7 lakh crore
5. Centre and state’ capex grew by 22.9% ( FY 24 )
6. Household savings in physical assets as % GDP up from 10.8% in FY 21 to 12.9% FY 23.

4. Agriculture sector is expected to perform better in the coming year.

5. Broad based acceleration in industrial growth – PLI schemes gathering momentum and it delivers handsomely in key areas.

6. Improvement in logistics performance – India’s rank improved from 44th  in 2018 to 38th in 2023 in WB’s LPI.

1. National Highway length grown between 1.6x between 2014 and 2024
2. 5 pairs of vande bharat introduced in arch 2024
3. Number of airports have more than doubled since 2014
4. Wait times at toll plaza’s down from 734 (2014) seconds to 47 seconds (2024)
5. Container turnaround time at ports dropped by 50% between 2014 and 2024
6. Pace of railway electrification up from 7.5RKM/Day (2014-19) to 15.30 RKM/day (2019-24).

7. Robust services export with rising global capability centres

1. India’s service exports is 4.3%  share in world services exports
2. 2nd Rank in World’s communication, computer and information services exports
3. 6th Rank World’s personal, cultural and recreational services exports
4. 8th Rank in World’s Other business service exports

8. Stable external sector

1. External debtGDP  ratio decreased.
2. India witnessed least exchange rate volatility in FY 24

9. India’s credit growth remains strong, facilitated by a healthy banking system.

10. Inflationary pressures are under control. India’s one of the lowest average deviations ( 2021-23 ) from inflation target. The core inflation is below 4%.

11. Administrative measures taken to contain the inflation:

1. Lowered LPG and fuel prices
2. Export prohibition on Cereals, onion and sugar
3. Stock limits for cereals and pulses
4. Sale of cereals and pulses and subsidised rate
5. Reduced import duty on pulses and edible oils.

12. Quality of union government expenditure improving.

13. Transformation in the employment landscape.

POLICY FOCUS FOR THE SHORT TO MEDIUM TERM

1. Generate productive employment
2. Address skill gap challenge
3. Tap into the full potential of the agriculture sector
4. Ease regulatory requirements and financing bottlenecks for MSMEs
5. Manage india’s green transition
6. Navigate Chinese Conundrum
7. Deepend corporate bond market
8. Tackle inequality
9. Improve quality of health of India’s young population

FARMER FRIENDLY POLICY FRAMEWORK

1. Not banning futures or options market at the first sign of price spikes
2. Invoking export bans only under exceptional circumstances
3. Re-examination inflation Targeting framework
4. Increasing Total Net Irrigated Area
5. Making Farming Consistent with climate consideration

BOOSTING MANUFACTURING AND SME

Creating Mittelstand for India

1. De-regulation of MSME – Threshold based incentives with sunset clauses and action required at the sub-national and local level
2. Targeted and Context driven upskilling of MSMEs – Targeted interventions, tailored to the circumstances of each sector. Practical rather than academic

The Economic Survey says that 99.4% of registered MSMEs are micro enterprises with 97% employment. It also states that guarantees under CGTMSE increased considerably without interventions.

START UP AND INNOVATION ECOSYSTEM

Over 13,00 DPIIT recognised startups in AI, IoT, Robotics and Nanotech as of March 24. The number of patents filed per year have  gone up 17x between FY 2015-24.

ONDC

According to the survey, the ONDC is making impressive progress at democratising commerce. 68 million transactions since inception, 85% small sellers, 1200+ cities, 5,35,000+ sellers, 65 seller applications, 9 million transactions per month, 12 logistic service providers and 22 buer applications.

EMPLOYMENT AND JOB CREATION 2024-2036 : India needs to generate an average of 78.5 lakh jobs annually until 2030 in the non-farm sector.

EDUCATION AND ATTAINMENT AND SKILLING

India needs a strong emphasis on increasing education and attainment and skilling. The ratio of women to men in tertiary education was 77:100 and now it is 96:100. There is no more gap in rolling higher education.

According to the survey, 63% of Indian companies report talent shortage in IT, engineering services and sales. The survey states that AI can be a positive for Indian labour. India to be the world’s third largest economy within the next decade, reaping benefits from demographic dividend. The survey also included climate change.

India’s food – feed balance can be a model for the world. The other countries use their land for feeding animal food not for the humans which is opposite to what India follows, says the Chief Economic Adviser.

TRIPARTITE COMPACT NEEDED FOR SUSTAINING THE GROWTH MOMENTUM

The economic survey suggests the trippartie – Industry, Academia and Government for the growth.

With regards to the Industry and Academia, the following suggestions are made:

1. Abandon Short-termism
2. Focus on Job Creation
3. Investment in Research and development
4. Creully deploy capital and energy intensive technologies
5. Help shape the design of higher education
6. Revisit their role in the toxic mix of habits plaguing our youth

With regards to the Government, the following suggestions are made:

1. Unshackle private sector and academia through deregulation
2. Introduction of key reforms in Agriculture, SME, Energy, Manufacturing
3. Acknowledge global environment today is not the same as it was two decades ago
4. Encourage more cooperation, communication and foster trust between government and private sector.

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