Economic Survey 2022: From 8.5% GDP projection, CPI inflation, fundraising via IPO to employment - 10 key highlights

Economic Survey 2022: The Economic Survey 2022 was tabled by the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today, January 31, 2022. The Union Finance Minister will present the Union Budget 2022-23 on Tuesday, February 1, 2022 at 11 AM.

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The Economic Survey is meant to elucidate the government's take on the ongoing Financial year while also offering glances into the Indian economy's present state. Furthermore, the Economic Survey provides a summary of the annual economic development across the country during the financial year. Here are the key highlights from Economic Survey 2022:

1) GDP Growth - The Economic Survey suggested that the Indian economy is in a good position and to witness a GDP growth of 8 to 8.5 per cent in 2022-23. The economy is expected to grow at 9.2 per cent in the current fiscal year.

2) Inflation - Retail inflation, as measured by Consumer Price Index-Combined (CPI-C) inflation, in India, which was slightly above 6 per cent in 2020-21 owing to supply chain disruptions caused by COVID-19 restrictions, lockdowns, and night curfews, moderated during the current fiscal year, as per the Economic Survey. April to December in 2020-21, retail inflation stood at 5.2 per cent.

3) Fiscal policy - Over the last two years, fiscal policy has remained a significant tool for addressing the economic fallout of the pandemic. The agile fiscal policy response adopted by the central government encompassed a change in mix of the stimulus measures amidst an uncertain evolution of the pandemic situation. The enhanced focus on capital expenditure in the second half of the year 2020-21 is reflective of the responsive fiscal policy adopted by the government.

4) Investment by FPIs - The Economic Survey also emphaised on the investment made by the Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs). During April-November 2021, FPIs made a net investment of Rs 24,124 crore in Indian securities, 82.8 per cent lower that what was made in same period previous year. As of November 2021, the cumulative net investment by FPIs increased by 9.2 per cent to US$288.4 billion from US$ 264 billion at end November 2020.

5) Fundraising through IPO - The survey mentioned that the year 2021-22 so far has been an exceptional year for the primary markets with a boom in fundraising through IPOs by many new-age companies/unicorns. “In April-November 2021, IPOs of 75 companies have listed, garnering Rs 89,066 crore, as compared to 29 companies raising Rs 14,733 crore during the same period a year ago, indicating a stupendous rise of 504.5 per cent in fund mobilization,” according to the survey.

6) Sustainable development - India has been making strides towards achieving the social, economic and environmental goals covered under Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). India’s overall score on the NITI Aayog SDG India Index & Dashboard improved to 66 in 2020-21 from 60 in 2019-20 and 57 in 2018-19, showing progress in India’s journey towards achieving the SDGs.

7) Agricultural growth -  The agriculture and allied sectors grew at a positive growth rate of 3.6 per cent during 2020-21. This became possible due to good monsoon and various government measures to enhance credit availability, improve investments, create market facilities, promote infrastructure development in the agriculture sector and increase provision of quality inputs to the sector.

8) Growth of start-ups - The number of start-ups recognised has increased more than 20-fold, as per Economic Survey 2022. India has over 61,400 startups recognised by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) with at least 14000 startups being recognised in the nine-months of this fiscal.

9) Employment - The nationwide lockdown imposed in late March 2020 adversely impacted the urban labour market. In the first quarter of 2020-21, the unemployment rate for urban sector rose to 20.8 percent. The LFPR and WPR in the urban sector also declined significantly during this quarter.  With the revival of the economy in the subsequent quarters of 2020-21, all three labour market indicators showed a swift recovery. The UR gradually declined during this period to reach 9.3 per cent in Q4 of 2020-21.

10) Health - "Although, the pandemic has affected almost all social services, yet the health sector was the worst hit. Expenditure on health sector increased from Rs 2.73 lakh crore in 2019-20(pre-COVID-19) to Rs 4.72 lakh crore in 2021-22 (BE), an increase of nearly 73 percent. For the education sector, the increase during same period was 20 per cent," the Economic Survey said. As per the survey, India has made significant progress in improving its health outcomes over the last two decades by eliminating polio, guinea worm disease, yaws and maternal and neonatal tetanus.