Sanjeev
Sanyal, Principal Economic Adviser (PEA), presented the Economic Survey 2022 on Monday. The
Survey was tabled by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman in the ongoing budget
session of the Parliament.

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Here
are the key highlights from Sanjeev Sanyal’s presentation on the Economic
Survey:

*The Economic Survey projected a growth rate of 9.2 per cent this year compared
to 7.3 per cent in the previous year

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*The survey said that the agriculture sector was least affected by pandemic
induced lockdowns. The industrial and the service sectors are the most
affected and are about 4.1 per cent above pre-pandemic levels now.

*In terms of consumption, India reached the pre-pandemic level and while government
consumption has been reasonably strong. However, private consumption still lingers.

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*Exports are now very significantly above the pre-pandemic level but imports
have also gained pace. Overall, GDP is 1.3 per cent above where it was
pre-pandemic, Sanyal said.

*Banks continue to increase capital adequacy ratio, banks are well-capitalised.
In terms of growth, credit has slowed down but has begun to tick up recently.
The banking system is in a position to provide capital, he added.

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*India’s
Balance of payments remains positive and even where Capital flows have been
volatile, the current account has been positive and we now have a healthy
amount of forex reserves.

*On the spike in Tomato and Onion prices, Sanjeev Sanyal said that their
analysis has thrown some light on the reason behind these massive spikes.
Seasonality is a major issue and a cyclical trend. Irregular components is
another factor that causes price upheavals. To counter this, the survey
recommends enhancing logistical issues, cold storage facilities etc to smoothen
out prices.

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*A key factor in this year’s survey is the introduction of vaccination status as
a macroeconomic stability indicator. Sanyal said that India has fared rather
well on this front to weather waves of the pandemic.