Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tabled the Economic Survey
2021-22 in Parliament on Monday soon after the President’s address to both
Houses of Parliament. The Economic Survey, presented a day before the Union
Budget, outlines the state of the Economy and suggestions for policy
actions.

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According to Economic Survey, “India’s GDP is
projected to grow in real terms by 8.0-8.5% in 2022-23,” said the Survey.
Growth will be supported by “widespread vaccine coverage, gains from
supply-side reforms and easing of regulations, robust export growth, and availability
of fiscal space to ramp up capital spending”.

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Here are the key highlights from the Economic Survey
2022:

1) The Economic Survey projected a GDP growth rate of
8-8.5% in real terms for the next fiscal 2022-23.

2) Indian economy is projected to grow by 9.2% in real
terms in 2021-22 considering the GDP growth rate contraction by 7.3% in
2020-21.

3) Agriculture and allied sectors are expected to grow by
3.9% as compared to 3.6% in the previous year. Industrial sector growth is
estimated at 11.8%. The services sector is the worst hit by the Covid-19
pandemic, it is estimated to grow by 8.2% in 2021-22 after the 8.4% contraction
in the previous fiscal.

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4) India’s total exports are projected to grow by 16.5%
in 2021-22 surpassing pre-pandemic levels.

5) Imports are estimated to grow by 29.4% in 2021-22.

6) Capital Expenditure (Capex) grows by 13.5%
year-on-year during April-November 2021.

7) Foreign Exchange reserves reached US$ 633.6 billion on
31st December 2021.

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8) Expenditure on social services increased by 9.8% to Rs
71.61 lakh crore in FY22.

9) 75 IPOs raised Rs 89,066 crore from April to November
2021, which is significantly higher than any year in the last decade.

10) Railways: Rs 65,157 crore capital expenditure from
April to November 2021; Capex outlay in the ongoing financial year is at Rs
2.15 lakh crore, which is five times the 2014 level.

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11) “Railways
Capex will increase further in coming years and emerge as an engine of national
growth,” the survey says.

12) Per day road
construction increases to 36.5 KMs in 2020-21, 30.4% increase as compared to
the previous year.

13) India sets a new record with 44 unicorns in 2021.

14) Five sector hold around 83% of the aggregate pipeline
value: Roads(27%), Railways (25%), Power (25%), Power (15%), Oil % Gas
pipelines (8%) and Telecom (6%).

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15) The survey said, “Climate finance will remain
critical to successful climate action by developing countries, including
India”.

16) India’s
overall score on the NITI Aayog SDG India Index and Dashboard improved to 66 in
2020-21 from 60 in 2019-20 and 57 in 2018-19.

17) The average headline CPI-Combined inflation averaged
to 5.2%  in April-December 2021-22 from
6.6% in the similar period of 2020-21.

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18) Food inflation averaged at a low of 2.9% in 2021-22
(April to December) as against 9.1% in the same period the previous year.

19) Sensex and Nifty surged up to touch highest at 61,766 and
18,477 on October 18, 2021.

20) Foreign exchange reserves surpassed US$ 600 billion in
the first half of 2021-22 and reached US $633.6 billion on December 31, 2021.

21) India’s external debt increased to the US $ 593.1 billion
at the end-September 2021 as against the US $ 556.8 billion a year earlier.