Economic survey 2022-23 released.

• Economic Survey provides a detailed report of national economy for the year along with forecasts. It is presented a day before the presentation of Union Budget.
• It was first presented for 1950-51 and was initially part of Budget documents. In 1964-65, it was separated from budget.
• It is prepared by Economic Division of Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance under guidance of Chief Economic Advisor.
• The comments or policy solutions contained in the Survey are not binding on the government.

Important Highlights

1. GDP forecast -India’s GDP forecast for FY24 is in a range of 6 – 6.8%, higher than most major economies.
2. Major global shocks – Covid19 pandemic and contraction in global output; Russia-Ukraine conflict; Sustained monetary tightening (increase in policy rates to curb inflation) by central bank.
3. Capital Expenditure (Capex) – Capex for FY23 was increased by 35.4% to 7.5 lacs crore.
4. FDI inflows – Declined by 14% in first half of FY23 due to global uncertainty (Russia-Ukraine conflict) but anticipated to increase in upcoming months.
5. Gross Non-performing Advances (GNPA) – GNPA of Scheduled Commercial Banks has fallen to a seven-year low of 5.0% in 2022 while Net NPA have dropped to a ten-year low of 1.3% of total assets.
6. Social sector spending –
   21. Increases to Rs. 21.3 lakh crore in FY23 (budget estimate).
   22. Out-of-pocket expenditure as a percentage of total health expenditure has declined.
7. Agriculture –
   9. Private investment in agriculture increases to 9.3% in 2020-21.
   10. Institutional Credit to Agricultural Sector continued to grow to 18.6 lakh crore in 2021-22.
8. Industry –
   3. Overall GVA by Industrial Sector for first half of FY23 rose 3.7%, which is higher than average growth of 2.8% achieved in first half of last decade.
   4. Electronics exports rose nearly threefold and India became the second largest mobile phone manufacturer globally.