A new-look survey with more, better data

ECONOMIC SURVEY 2007-08

On September 17 last year, Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Virmani met a motley group of economists and media professionals to seek inputs on how the government's annual report card on the economy "� the Economic Survey "� should be revamped.

The idea was to improve the survey and align it with the need for better data, crisper analysis and comprehensive packaging.

On February 28, the survey, a government document authored by the economic division under Virmani's charge at the finance ministry, delivered on the promise with a new-look survey "� the fattest (338 pages) and the most colourful so far in its 52 years of existence.

It was better integrated (text and relevant graphics have been put in one place) and far more comprehensive than before in analysis and statistical data. Nearly 25,000 copies of the survey are printed every year.

Describing the new look survey, Virmani said the changes were carried out on the basis of user feedback. "For general readers, we have improved the readability by placing graphics along with the text. We have also increased the focus on analysis by bringing in new issues. A new chapter (the second of 10) has been introduced for the more sophisticated readers", he told Business Standard.

For 2007-08, this new chapter, Challenges, Policy Response and Medium Term Prospects, analyses growth and macroeconomic management with particular reference to capital inflows.

It also has sections on states' performance and governance. Since it imparts a more analytical dimension to the economic survey and takes up special topics, the issues it covers can vary from year to year. The other chapters will basically cover the same sectors from year to year.

The new survey has also re-arranged material from four chapters of earlier economic surveys to create three modified chapters - Prices and Monetary Management, Financial Intermediation and Markets, Agriculture and Food Management.

"The old formulation largely reflected historical departmental responsibilities while the new one tries to reflect the economic forces that drive different aspects of the economy today and the policy response", Virmani pointed out.

"We have initiated a process of background papers which is still in process. These papers are to be based on sound economic research on India done by scholars, supplemented by complementary empirical analysis where possible. The external sector chapter is the most reflective of this new emphasis", he added.

The last big change was carried out in 1993, when the survey for fiscal 1992-93 was split into two volumes "�the first on macro-economic assessment and prospects and the second on chapterwise summary and assessment.

More data was introduced into the document. This lasted only two years and the document went back to its single volume format, including the data.