Economic Survey 2020 Live: India FY21 GDP Growth Pegged At 6-6.5%

Making an attempt to quantify what a common person pays for a 'thali' across India, the Economic Survey on Friday said affordability of vegetarian 'thalis' improved by 29 percent while that of non-vegetarian by 18 percent during the 2006-07 and 2019-20 period.

Dedicating a full chapter on "Thalinomics -- The Economics of a Plate of Food in India", the survey analysed data from the Consumer Price Index for industrial workers for around 80 centres in 25 states/Union Territories from April 2006 to October 2019 to arrive at the cost of a 'thali'.

As per the survey, a vegetarian thali comprises a serving of cereals, 'sabzi and dal' and the non-vegetarian thali comprises of cereals, sabzi and a non-vegetarian component.

"Both across India and the four regions – north, south, east and west – it is found that the absolute prices of a vegetarian thali have decreased significantly since 2015-16 though the price has increased in 2019," it said.

As a result, the survey said, "An average household of five individuals that eats two vegetarian thalis a day gained around Rs 10,887 on average per year while a non-vegetarian household gained Rs 11,787, on average, per year."

“Many reform measures were introduced since 2014-15 to enhance the productivity of the agriculture sector as well as efficiency and effectiveness of agricultural markets for better and more transparent price discovery," the survey said.

(Source: PTI)

India's development trajectory is critically linked with investments in social infrastructure and the country's march towards attaining Sustainable Development Goals is firmly anchored in investing in human capital and inclusive growth, the Economic Survey 2019-20 said.

To reap the benefits of demographic dividend, the government is committed to improve the outcomes in education and skilling, and to provide employment and affordable healthcare to all, as per the survey tabled in Parliament on Friday.

"India's march towards achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is firmly anchored in investing in human capital and inclusive growth," Economic Survey 2019-20 said.

Scaling up development programmes for improving connectivity, providing housing and bridging gender gaps in socio-economic indicators is of paramount importance for sustainable development.

It stated that the public investments in social infrastructure like education, health, housing and connectivity have a critical role in ensuring inclusive development in a developing country like India.

The 2030 Agenda for sustainable development calls for global partnership to ensure peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future.

(Source: PTI)

The government’s Economic Survey for 2019-20 claims a big boost to bottom-of-the-pyramid entrepreneurship in recent years. It says, referencing World Bank data on entrepreneurship, that India ranks third in the number of new firms created.

The survey also claims that new firm creation has risen dramatically since 2014—at a compounded annual growth rate of 12.2 percent between 2014 and 2018 versus 3.8 percent from 2006-2014.

“As a result, from about 70,000 new firms created in 2014, the number has grown by about 80 percent to about 1,24,000 new firms in 2018,” the survey states.

While flagging a host of inefficiencies at PSBs, the survey stayed away from making any dramatic suggestions for change.

It neither recommends privatisation nor a sharp reduction in the government’s holding in these lenders. It does suggest that India needs banks of greater scale, which has been pursued by the government through mergers announced last year.

The Economic Survey 2019-20 instead focuses on the use of fintech and employee stock ownership at PSU banks.

The Economic Survey's warned against signs of “impending liquidity problems” health score of the housing finance companies and non banking finance companies, suggesting liquidity allocation among firms of different ‘health scores’, to arrest their “financial fragility”in an efficient manner.

The analysis of the Health Score has the following findings:

• The HFC sector exhibited a declining trend post 2014 and overall health of the sector worsened considerably by the end of FY2019.
• The Score of the Retail-NBFC sector was consistently below par for the period 2014 -19.
• Larger Retail-NBFCs had higher Health Scores but among medium and small Retail- NBFCs, the medium size ones had a lower score for the entire period of 2014-19.