MC Exclusive: Govt may present concise Eco Survey before FY25 Interim Budget, says source

The Economic Survey is tabled every year a day before the full Union Budget is presented.

In a break from tradition, the Finance Ministry is looking to present a ‘concise’ document detailing the state of the Indian economy similar to an Economic Survey ahead of the interim budget on February 1, a government official said. Typically, before a general election, the Centre presents the Survey only when the full annual financial statement is tabled around June-July.

“This won’t be a full-fledged Economic Survey, but it will be a short document, similar to a survey. It will not be seen as big as what will be presented around June-July, but it will likely include the key indicators and forecasts such as GDP growth, nominal GDP growth target, oil prices, among others, but it won’t be a deep dive on the economy,” the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Moneycontrol.

The ministry is currently discussing ways to package this document articulating India’s economic performance in 2023-24, the official added.

According to this official, the ministry is yet to decide “how to package the document, but since we keep working all year around, we can take a call on how to package it later before presenting it in January. Once we take a view, we can quickly package it.”

The Economic Survey, which is tabled every year a day before the full Union Budget, is typically presented on January 31 of each year. The flagship report is prepared by the Economics Division of the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) under the guidance of the Chief Economic Adviser (CEA), who is currently V Anantha Nageswaran. The survey is considered to be a report card of the economy and is used by CEAs to articulate key reform ideas.

The Economic Survey that usually contains two volumes had in 2022 reverted to a single volume as the earlier format was way too “unwieldy”, the then Principal Economic Advisor Sanjeev Sanyal had said on January 31, 2022.

The Survey for 2023 projected real GDP growth for the current fiscal in the range of 6-6.8 percent, "depending on the trajectory of economic and political developments globally".

As per practice, the Centre will present a vote-on-account Budget for the next financial year on February 1. An outgoing government presents only an interim Budget or seeks a vote-on-account and leaves it to the next government to present the full Budget.