Economic Survey 2019 outlines blueprint to achieve PM Modi's dream of $5 trillion economy

New Delhi: The Economic Survey 2019 was tabled by Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman in Parliament on Thursday outlining blueprint to achieve PM Narendra Modi's dream of USD 5 trillion economy.

“To achieve the objective of becoming a USD 5 trillion economy by 2024-25, as laid down by the Prime Minister, India needs to sustain a real GDP growth rate of 8 percent,” the Survey said.

"The Prime Minister has laid out the vision and Economic Survey 2018 -19 lays out the strategic blueprint to achieve that vision along with the tactical tools to stay on the path of the strategic blueprint. Among these, treating people as humans and not as robots as in classical economics, creating data as a public good, enhancing the legal system for enforcement of contracts, insuring consistency of policy with the blueprint are some tools that have been discussed", the Survey added.

The Survey said that it departs from “traditional thinking by advocating a growth model for India that views economy as  being either in a virtuous or a vicious cycle, and thus never in equilibrium”.   

It added that it “makes the case for investment, especially private investment as key driver, that drives demand, creates capacity, increases labour productivity, introduces new technology and generate jobs”.  

The Survey suggests that “Exports must form an integral part of the growth model because higher savings preclude domestic consumption as the driver of final demand.”

The Economic Survey states that while world output grew at 3.6 percent in 2014 and in 2018, India took giant strides forward to become the sixth largest economy by sustaining growth rates higher than China.  It stated that the “average inflation in these 5 years was less than of the inflation level of the preceding 5 years matching the lowest levels attained in the country’s post-independence history. The current account deficit (CAD) remained within manageable levels and foreign exchange reserves rose to all-time highs.

The Survey pointed out that India is now ranked 3rd in the world in the start-up ecosystem and that it is important to continue the favourable circumstances for such an ecosystem, for private investments, to enable the virtuous cycle of investment, demand, exports, growth and jobs.