The Economic Survey of 2016-17 summarised its desiderata in the following words: “It (Economic Survey) must possess a rare combination of gifts …. No part of man’s nature or his institutions must be entirely outside its regard. It must be purposeful and disinterested in a simultaneous mood, its authors as aloof and incorruptible as artists, yet sometimes as near to earth as politicians.” Economic Survey 2016-17 went on to note that such was the popularity of the previous year’s Survey that it had been pirated and was being sold on Amazon. Publication of the Annual Economic Survey a day before the Union Budget is a much awaited event.

Offering rare insights in the Government’s economic thinking and giving a snapshot of the Indian Economy, together with a SWOT analysis, every word of the Economic Survey is precious to serious students of economics. The spirit and thinking behind the Budget can be perfectly understood by perusing the Economic Survey, because both documents are drafted by the same set of economists. Painstaking research, unbiased statistics and unmatched scholarship ensure that the Economic Survey remains of interest long after the corresponding year’s Budget is forgotten. However, Economic Survey 2022 and Economic Survey 2023 which ignored hard realities and stretched facts and logic to justify Government policies ~ were significant exceptions.

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This deleterious trend was reversed in 2024 and the current Survey carries forward the change; in sights and scholarship are back, the Survey is topical and does not shy away from discussing current problems, e.g., worrying levels of inflation and unemployment, slow uptick in manufacturing and exports etc. Most of the topics dealt with by the current Economic Survey remain identical to earlier Surveys. The first chapter examines the state of the Indian economy, and subsequent chapters analyse India’s medium-term economic outlook, fiscal policy trajectory and so on.

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However, treatment of most topics is somewhat short on original thinking, and sometimes long on verbiage. While some of the earlier Surveys will be long-remembered for their insights like the Twin Balance Sheet Problem in Economic Survey 2015-16, or the highly original Eight Interesting Facts About India in Economic Survey 2016-17, or Tracking Development through Satellite Images and Cartography in Economic Survey 2021- 22, the current Economic Survey does not........

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