Economic Survey 2020 LIVE Streaming: To be tabled in Parliament today, when and where to watch; all you need to know

The Economic Survey will be tabled in both the Houses of the Parliament on Friday. The Economic Survey is presented a day ahead of the Union Budget. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the annual Budget to Parliament on Saturday. It is expected that she will announce a slew of measures of support sputtering economic growth.

What is Economic Survey?

The Economic Survey is an annual document that reviews the developments in the economy over the previous 12 months.

The Economic Survey highlights the economic trends in the country and facilitates a better appreciation of the mobilisation of resources and their allocation in the Budget is brought out by the Economic Division of the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance.

The survey analyses the trends in agricultural and industrial production, infrastructure, employment, money supply, prices, imports, exports, foreign exchange reserves and other relevant economic factors that have a bearing on the Budget, and is presented to the Parliament ahead of the Budget for the ensuing year.

Survey details about govt’s policy

The Budget of the Central government is not merely a statement of receipts and expenditure. Since Independence, it has become a significant statement of government policy.

The Budget reflects and shapes, and is, in turn, shaped by the country’s economy. For a better appreciation of the impact of government receipts and expenditure on the other sectors of the economy, it is necessary to group them in terms of certain economic magnitudes, for example, how much is set aside for capital formation, how much is spent directly by the government and how much is transferred by government to other sectors of the economy by way of grants, loans, etc.

This analysis is contained in the Economic and Functional Classification of the Central government Budget which is brought out by the Ministry of Finance separately.

Divided into two parts since 2015

Since 2015, the survey document essentially consists of two parts. One part consists of commentary on the state of the economy, which is released before the Union Budget. The other part carries key economic statistics and data, which is tabled in July or August. This split in the presentation took effect after the Union Budget was moved from the last working day of February to the first day of the month in 2017.

Who prepares the survey

The flagship document is prepared by the Department of Economic Affairs, which comes under the Finance Ministry, and released under the guidance of the Chief Economic Advisor (CEA). Krishnamurthy V Subramanian is the current CEA.

Recommendations not binding on govt

Often, the survey serves as a policy guideline for the Union Budget. However, its recommendations are not binding on the government. More often than not, the policy recommendations presented in the document have not made their way into the Budget proposals.

However, the government considers the document “useful for policymakers, economists, policy analysts, business practitioners, government agencies, students, researchers, the media, and all those interested in the development in the Indian economy”.