Chief Economic Adviser (CEA) Krishnamurthy Subramanian said on Thursday that the Economic Survey 2018-19 makes a concerted effort for India to become a five trillion dollar economy by 2025.
With 'Shifting Gears Through a Virtuous Cycle' as a key theme, the Survey will be a key driver of investment cycle to fuel economic growth, he said.
Subramanian said the team has tried to ensure that the document is accessible to the common man, revealing that every chapter includes an abstract and a chapter at a glance section to aid the common man in understanding the Economic Survey. In addition, short videos in Hindi and English have also been released as a supplement.
He listed behavioural economics, legal reforms, data as a public good and unshackling MSMEs to create jobs and productivity in the economy as the tactical tools behind shifting the gears of the economy.
He also talked out the economic achievements of the government in the past five years. "India has been a bright spot in the world economy as it has ensured macroeconomic stability with high growth rates and low inflation. The government has also made key infrastructural investments in the form of village electrification, national highways and UDAAN scheme."
As the economy started going better, China started saving and investing more, said Subramanium. "India needs to learn from this and adopt a virtuous cycle," said CEA.
As a fundamental departure from previous economic surveys, he talked about the role of behavioural economics in this year's survey.
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"Classical economics thinks of humans as robots. Economic Survey 2019 argues for an ambitious agenda for social change, treating humans as humans, relying on the lessons offered by behavioural economics."
Citing two big examples, the CEA talked about Swachh Bharat Abhiyan as a great example of behavioural change and its contribution to improved health outcomes in a very significant way. "Beti Bachao Beti Padhao has led to an improvement in sex ratio at birth."
Subramanian also made the case for the potential of data as a public good for ease of living, saying that the government needs to invest the same way as in building roads for the welfare of people.
"Filling existing judicial vacancies and improving productivity improvements in courts can address key hurdle of delays in contract enforcement and dispute resolution," he said while emphasising the need for clearing the legal logjam in the country on its pursuit towards a five trillion dollar economy.
The Economic Survey 2018-19 was tabled by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Parliament on Thursday ahead of the Union Budget for 2019-20.