What is Economic Survey and why is it tabled before Union Budget?

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will table the Economic Survey 2024-25 on Friday, January 31, 2025, when Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha convene briefly after President Droupadi Murmu’s address to Parliament. Ahead of the Union Budget 2025-26, Sitharaman is expected to table a copy of each Economic Survey 2024-25, its highlights, and statistical appendix in both houses.

What is an Economic Survey?

The Economic Survey is an annual report prepared by the Economic Division of the Department of Economic Affairs, under the leadership of the Chief Economic Advisor (CEA), the post currently held by V Anantha Nageswaran.

The report informs the public about government policies and their performance, their impacts, innovations, and developments. The Survey also provides an assessment of the various sectors such as agriculture, industry, infrastructure and services for the year under review.

The Economic Survey starts with shedding light on the state of the economy and goes on to highlight the inflation situation, monetary developments, and medium- and long-term outlook.

Economic Survey ‘Highlights’ document

The ‘Highlights’ document–stated through charts, infographics, tables, and minimum use of text–usually features the salient aspects of each chapter in the Survey. The document presents the Survey in a nutshell to enable its easier understanding.

The Economic Survey analyses the trends in agricultural and industrial production, infrastructure, employment, money supply, prices, imports, exports, foreign exchange reserves and other relevant economic factors which have a bearing on the Union Budget.

Economic Survey 2023-24

The last Economic Survey, tabled by Sitharaman in the Parliament on July 22, 2024, projected India’s real GDP growth at 6.5%-7% for FY 2024-25. The Survey highlighted strong domestic investment demand, improved agricultural performance, and an increase in exports as key drivers of growth, while cautioning against risks such as geopolitical uncertainties, inflationary pressures, and global trade disruptions.

How to download the Economic Survey