Highlights of Economic Survey 2019-20 | Fusion - WeRIndia

The Chief Economic Advisor Krishnamurthy V Subramanian prepared the Economic Survey and presented it.

Here are the key highlights of Economic Survey 2019-20:

• The GDP growth rate for 2020-21 is expected at 6-6.5 per cent from the current 5 per cent.
• The debt waiver scheme and food subsidies result in disruption of credit culture. The survey says that the debt waiver even disrupts formal credit flow to the farmers it aims to benefit. Hence, this scheme defeats its purpose.
• Compared to partial beneficiaries of the scheme, the full waiver beneficiaries consume less, save less and invest less. They are less productive after the waiver.
• Power shortage, insufficient transport and poor connectivity are the constraints that affect the growth. To remove these constraints in growth and to achieve a GDP of $5 trillion by 2024-25, the country is required to spend $1.4 trillion on infrastructure.
• There is a need for efficient expansion of the banking sector. It suggests employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) to public sector bank employees to empower them to become owners in the banks. The ESOPs motivate bank employees to take more risk and to be more innovative.
• The affordability of vegetarian ‘thalis’ improved more compared to non-vegetarian ‘thalis’ in the last 13 years. The rate of affordability of vegetarian thalis improved by 29 per cent and the rate for non-vegetarian ‘thalis’ by 18 per cent.
• The survey says that school dropout rate in higher schooling has increased. It emphasized that higher education is not affordable in the country and it should be an area of concern.
• The number of foreign tourists who arrive to India on e-visas has been increased in the last five years. While 4.45 lakh tourists arrived in 2015, the number increased to 21.75 lakh in January-October 2019. This is around 21 per cent growth each year in tourism.
• Due to the government’s initiatives and reform measures, India’s mineral output saw a remarkable improvement.

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