Economic Survey 2018 highlights these 10 facts about Indian economy

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley tabled the Economic Survey 2018 before the Parliament on Monday. The survey projected the economic growth for finacial year 2018-19 at 7-7.5 per cent.

The Economic Surevey prepared by the Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) Arvind Subramanian, has predicted services growth for FY18 at 8.3 per cent, industry growth at 4.4 per cent, and agri growth at 2.1 per cent.  

Don’t miss ten new facts about Indian economy (pp. xiii, Vol. 1) #economicsurvey18 https://t.co/NPqJ4cfR3Y

— arvind subramanian (@arvindsubraman) January 29, 2018

Besides, the Economic Survey also highlighted that agriculture, education, and employment would be key focus areas in the medium term. 

The dedicated web page for #economicsurvey18 is: https://t.co/NPqJ4cfR3Y. Contents and other details will be uploaded after Survey is tabled tomorrow in parliament https://t.co/MN4YsUg8oK

— arvind subramanian (@arvindsubraman) January 28, 2018

But following are the 10 major facts about Indian economy that the Economic Survey 2018 highlighted: 

1. There has been a large increase in registered indirect and direct taxpayers. The survey stated that a 50 per cent increase has been registered in unique indirect taxpayers under the GST compared with the pre-GST
system. It also said that there has been an addition (over and above trend growth) of about 1.8 million in
individual income tax filers since November 2016. 

2. Formal non-agricultural payroll has also been increased. The survey said that more than 30 per cent hike has been registered when formality is defined in terms of social security (EPFO/ESIC) provision and more than 50 per cent increase came when defined in terms of being in the GST net. 

3. The states that indulge in higher international and inter-state trade had witnessed more prosperity than others. 

India’s stock market boom different from U.S.: better profit expectations, large portfolio allocation away from gold and real estate into stocks & higher interest rates; warrants heightened vigilance (Ch 1, Box 9) #economicsurvey18 https://t.co/VAfz77JvGp pic.twitter.com/oeXAT6MIBr

— arvind subramanian (@arvindsubraman) January 29, 2018

4. India’s firm export structure is substantially more egalitarian than in other large countries
Top 1 per cent of Indian firms account for 38 per cent of exports; in all other countries, they account for
a substantially greater share (72, 68, 67, and 55 per cent of exports in Brazil, Germany, Mexico, and USA
respectively). And this is true for the top 5 per cent, 10 per cent, and so on.

5. The clothing incentive package boosted exports of readymade garments: 

The relief from embedded state taxes (ROSL) announced in 2016 boosted exports of ready-made garments
(but not others) by about 16 per cent, showed the Economic Survey 2018. 

6. Indian society exhibits strong son “Meta” Preference
Parents continue to have children until they get the desired number of sons. This kind of fertility-stopping
rule leads to skewed sex ratios but in different directions: skewed in favor of males if it is the last
child, but in favor of females if it is not the last (see the top two panels on India). Where there are no
such fertility-stopping rules, ratios remain balanced regardless of whether the child is the last or not (see
bottom panels on Indonesia). 

7. There is substantial avoidable litigation in the tax arena which government action could reduce
The tax department’s petition rate is high, even though its success rate in litigation is low and declining
(well below 30 per cent).

− Only 0.2 per cent of cases accounted for 56 percent of the value at stake; whereas
− About 66 per cent of pending cases (each less than Rs 10 lakhs) accounted for only 1.8 per cent

8.  To re-ignite growth, raising investment is more important than raising saving: 
Cross-country experience shows that growth slowdowns are preceded by investment slowdowns but not
necessarily by savings slowdowns may not. 

9. Own direct tax collections by Indian states and local governments are significantly lower than those of their counterparts in other federal countries. 

10. The footprint of climate change is evident and extreme weather adversely impacts agricultural
yields
The impact of weather is felt only with extreme temperature increases and rainfall deficiencies
This impact is twice as large in unirrigated areas as in irrigated ones
of the value at stake.