Economic Survey 2019: Key takeaways of Modi government’s financial roadmap

Ahead of Union Budget 2019, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday tabled an economic survey in Parliament, projecting the state of health of the country's economy and outlining the challenges. According to the survey, India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is projected to clock 7 per cent growth rate in the financial year 2019-20. The GDP growth projection is higher than 6.8 per cent growth rate in the financial year ended on March 31. The economic survey pegged fiscal deficit for 2018-19 at 5.8 per cent, up from revised budget estimate of 3.4 per cent.

Here are key takeaways of Economic Survey 2019

• Investment rate is expected to pick up further in the year 2019-20 on the back of higher credit growth, said the Economic Survey. The investment rate was declining from 2011-12. The survey makes the case for investment as a key driver and focus on SMEs will be the key.
• The decline in the growth of rural wages seems to have bottomed out and has started to increase since mid-2018. The growth in rural wages should help shoot rural demand.
• Prepared by Chief Economic Adviser Krishnamurthy Subramanian, the Economic Survey said that the growth in economy is expected to pick up in 2019-20 on improved macroeconomic conditions and structural reformed carried out in the last few years.
• According to the sruvey, "real GDP growth for the year 2019-20 is projected at 7 per cent reflecting a recovery in the economy after a deceleration in the growth momentum throughout 2018-19."
• Economic Survey 2019 projects 283.4 million tons of food grains production for 2018-19.
• Economic Survey 2019 provisionally estimates 2.9 percent growth rate for the agriculture, forestry and fishing sectors.
• Despite India’s outstanding growth in the last two decades, low pay and wage inequality remain serious obstacles towards achieving inclusive growth. 
• An effective minimum wage policy that targets the vulnerable bottom rung of wage earners can help in driving up aggregate demand and building and strengthening the middle class, and thus spur a phase of sustainable and inclusive growth.
• India is set to witness a sharp slowdown in population growth in the next two decades. Although the country as a whole will enjoy the “demographic dividend” phase, some states will start transitioning to an ageing society by the 2030s.
• Economic Policy Uncertainty when measured using EPU index was the highest in 2011-12 coinciding with the years of policy paralysis. Economic policy uncertainty has reduced significantly over the last decade in India.