Economic Survey

Overall Rating: star ratingstar ratingstar ratingstar ratingstar rating[5/5]Total Votes [ 1 ]  
Rate this page:
The Economic Survey of India is published on a yearly basis and deals with the following areas of the national economy:

  • Condition of the economy and its overall future
  • International trade
  • Micro-foundations of the macroeconomic development
  • Agriculture and food management
  • Fiscal developments and public finance
  • Industry
  • Prices and monetary management
  • Services sector
  • Financial intermediation and markets
  • Energy, infrastructure, and communications
  • Balance of payments
  • Human development, equity, and environment


India Economic Survey 2010-11: State of the Economy and Prospects

As per the Economic Survey of 2010-11, the national economy had performed creditably and come out of the international financial meltdown that stretched from 2007 till 2009. The growth for 2009-10 fiscal had been estimated at 8 percent as per the Quick Estimates that were published on January 31, 2011.

According the Advance Estimates of the Central Statistics Office issued on February 7 2011, Indian economy was supposed to grow by 8.6%. All these statistics establish the fact that the national economy has indeed been able to recover quickly from the after effects of the global financial meltdown.

The Advance Estimates revealed that economic growth was supposed to be substantial in the 2010-11 fiscal – the agricultural sector was expected to bounce back and the manufacturing sector was supposed to keep performing as it had done in 2009-10.

The services sector saw some deceleration due to less than adequate performance of community, personal, and social services. This statistic reflected the basic effect of the fiscal stimulus in the past couple of fiscals.

A matter of worry, in this period, had been the way critical sectors like manufacturing and industry performed. This had also been revealed in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) data that was brought out during November 2010.

However, the other indicators performed well and the IIP slowdown was expected to have a short term effect only – this indicated that this area could be addressed properly.

According to its Economic Survey 2010-11, the finance ministry thought that the Indian economy would perform well in the medium to long term. In 2010-11 the GDP at constant market prices saw an increase of 9.7 percent thanks to increase in levels of private consumption as well as investment and savings

In the period under consideration, India was able to contain its inflation related pressures with a removal of financial accommodation that was being done in a gradual and sequential process. In the early part of the fiscal, inflation was driven primarily by certain food items. However, the later part of the same year saw the rise in prices of some different food items.

Other factors that had hampered the national economy were the less than adequate growth in deposits and the restrictive condition of the money markets. However, this situation had been offset to a certain extent by the performance of the markets for foreign exchange and equity.

The monthly merchandise trade data in the later part of that year showed clearly that exports were likely to go up and imports were expected to come down. The same data also indicated that the situation regarding balance of payments could be corrected soon.

The report also pointed out critical problems like the prices of products such as crude oil. At that time the Indian government had anticipated that the prices could go up with further trouble in the Middle East that is the hub of global oil production. However, the finance ministry still felt that the national economy was in the condition to improve especially with regards to important macroeconomic indicators.

Economic Survey 2010-11: Macroeconomic Development

The Union Finance Ministry opined that the 2010-11 fiscal was an ideal example of economic recovery. In the Economic Survey report for that year, it stated that the country maintained its speed of economic resurgence that had started in 2009-10. It had also been able to get back to the high rates of economic growth that were normal during 2005-08 before it experienced the after effects of the global economic meltdown.

The Finance Ministry also stated in the report that the high rates of inflation put lot of pressure on the economy. With the growth happening in real terms, the average tax payers were in a position to look forward to an increased availability of goods and services.

In recent times, inflation in India had been spurred by the increase in prices of food items and this, the central government estimated, would put a lot of pressure on the common people.

As stated in the Economic Survey 2010-11, the government had been looking at inflation from several aspects like demand management, marketing, and productivity. They had also discussed the dependence on economic growth on social, institutional, and political factors, in addition to the economic policies.

Economic Survey 2010-11: Fiscal Developments and Public Finance

According to the Economic Survey 2010-11 the rates of financial production in the first three quarters of the fiscal were in accordance with the plans outlined in the budget for that particular year.

The 2010-11 budget started the process of financial consolidation by partially drawing back the various stimulus measures as by that point of time there were plenty of indications that the economy was back on track.

The basic policy was to make sure that the momentum of the growth did not slow down in the short run so that the pre-crisis levels could be attained and also the long term problems could be addressed properly.

The government was able to achieve this aim thanks to good revenues and higher than expected earnings through the 3G auction process. It expected that the chances of growth would remain impressive in the days ahead and the consolidation process would also be accomplished without any hiccups.

Last Updated on 3/13/2012



>> More about India Budget