Context: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tabled Economic Survey 2022 in the Lok Sabha today ahead of the Union Budget 2022 on Tuesday. India forecast economic growth of 8-8.5% for the coming fiscal year that starts in April, down from estimated 9.2% growth in the current fiscal year.

• The central theme of this year’s Economic Survey is the “Agile approach”, implemented through India’s economic response to the COVID-19 Pandemic shock. 
• Informing further, the preface of Economic Survey states that the “Agile approach” is based on feed-back loops, real-time monitoring of actual outcomes, flexible responses, safety-net buffers and so on.

Significance of the Economic Survey

The Economic Survey projects the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the next financial year and further includes crucial insights about India's economic condition.

Who prepares the Economic Survey?

• The Economic Survey is prepared by the Chief Economic Advisor (CEA), however, this time, the report was drafted by the principal economic adviser and other officials after Krishnamurthy Subramaniam's term ended in December 2021.
• For the past few years, the Economic Survey has been presented in two volumes, but this year it is clubbed in a single volume.

Why is Economic Survey tabled a day before the Budget?

• Since India's Independence in 1947, the Economic Survey was presented alongside the Budget, but was delinked in 1964 and was presented in advance, a practice that continues to date. 
• It is to be noted that it is not mandatory for the government to present the Economic Survey and the recommendations presented in the first volume are not binding on the government.

State of the Economy

• Indian economy estimated to grow by 9.2 percent in real terms in 2021-22 (as per first advanced estimates) subsequent to a contraction of 7.3 percent in 2020-21. 
• GDP projected to grow by 8- 8.5 percent in real terms in 2022-23. 
• The year ahead poised for a pickup in private sector investment with the financial system in good position to provide support for economy's revival. 
• Projection comparable with World Bank and Asian Development Bank's latest forecasts of real GDP growth of 8.7 percent and 7.5 percent respectively for 2022-23. 
• As per IMF's latest World Economic Outlook projections, India's real GDP projected to grow at 9 percent in 2021-22 and 2022-23 and at 7.1 percent in 2023 2024, which would make India the fastest growing major economy in the world for all 3years. 
• Agriculture and allied sectors expected to grow by 3.9 percent; industry by 11.8 percent and services sector by 8.2 percent in 2021-22. 
• On demand side, consumption estimated to grow by 7.0 percent, Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF) by 15 percent, exports by 16.5 percent and imports by 29.4 percent in 2021-22. 
• Macroeconomic stability indicators suggest that the Indian Economy is well placed to take on the challenges of 2022-23.
• Combination of high foreign exchange reserves, sustained foreign direct investment, and rising export earnings will provide adequate buffer against possible global liquidity tapering in 2022-23.
• Economic impact of "second wave" was much smaller than that during the full lockdown phase in 2020-21, though health impact was more severe. 
• Government of India's unique response comprised of safety-nets to cushion the impact on vulnerable sections of society and the business sector, significant increase in capital expenditure to spur growth and supply side reforms for a sustained long-term expansion. 
• Government's flexible and multi-layered response is partly based on an "Agile" framework that uses feedback-loops, and the use of eighty High Frequency Indicators (HFIS) in an environment of extreme uncertainty.