Economic Survey 2020 tabled in Parliament; projects growth at 6 to 6.5 per cent for the next fiscal

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today tabled the Economic Survey 2019-20 in both the houses of Parliament. The survey has projected India's economic growth at 6 per cent to 6.5 per cent in the fiscal year starting on April 1, 2020. It has put current fiscal growth at five per cent and said the fiscal deficit target for current fiscal may need to be relaxed to revive growth.

The survey also called for more reforms for making it easier to do business in the country. The survey said for India to achieve a five trillion US dollar economy depends on promoting pro-business policies, strengthening the invisible hand of the market and ease of doing business.

The survey has given the emphasis on entrepreneurship and Wealth Creation at the Grassroots. It said, about 1.24 lakh new firms were created in 2018, which is an increase of about 80 per cent from about 70,000 in 2014.

Talking about Creation of Jobs and boosting growth, the Survey said, India has unprecedented opportunity to chart a China-like labour-intensive, export trajectory. The survey emphasizes on creating jobs and growth by specialization in network products. It said the industrial sector as per the Index of Industrial Production registered a growth of 0.6 per cent in 2019-20 (April-November) as compared to 5.0 per cent during 2018-19 (April-November).