BJP paints Economy’s dismal picture, but Economic Survey says otherwise

(Divye Joshi in http://idharudhar24x7.blogspot.in/) Narendra Modi-led NDA government is accusing the UPA government for the mismanagement of economy to hide their inability of preventing the inflation in their first 40 days of governance. But economic survey presented by the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on the eve of Budget, is presenting the different picture altogether. 

Economic Survey of India 2013-14 Highlights

1.The number of poor has declined from 40.7 crore to 26.9 crore during 2004-05 to 2011-12.

2. The poverty ratio (based on the Monthly Per Capita Expenditure (MPCE) of Rs.816 for rural areas and Rs. 1000 for urban areas in 2011-12 at all India level), has declined from 37.2 per cent in 2004-05 to 21.9 per cent in 2011-12, with an average annual decline of 2.2 percentage points during 2004-05 to 2011-12.

3.The Current Account Deficit moderated to USD 32.4 billion compared to USD 88.2 billion from 2012-13. Thus the CAD was 1.7% of GDP as compared to 4.7% of GDP last year.

4. Agriculture sector grew by 4.7% compared to 1.4% last year.

5. Financing, insurance, real estate, and business services grew robustly at 12.9 per cent compared to 10.9% last year.

6.Forex reserves USD 304.2 billion compared to USD 292.0 billion last year. (This is thrice the forex reserves inherited by the UPA government)

7. Exports have increase to Rs. 18.94 lakh crores this year from Rs. 2.93 lakh crores from 2003-04. (This is a 646% increase) [p. 69. Vol II]

8.Trade Deficit dropped drastically from USD 190.3 billion last year to USD 137.5 billion.

9. Fiscal deficit declined to 4.5% from 4.9% of the GDP in the last year.

1.From 2004-2005 to 2013-14, government’s liability-GDP ratio has decreased from 61.6% to 49.9%.

1.Inflation receded with average wholesale price index (WPI) inflation falling to a three-year low of 5.98 per cent during 2013-14, compared to 7 and 9% over the previous two years. Consumer price inflation, declined from 10.21 per cent during FY 2013-14 to about 9.49 per cent in 2013-14.

Agriculture:

1. Record food grains production of 264.4 mt in the year 2013-14

2. Record production of oilseeds of 32.4 mt in the year 2013-14

3. Record production of pulses of 19.6 mt in the year 2013-14

4. Groundnut shows the largest increase in productivity i.e., 73.17% in the year 2013-14.

5. Credit to agriculture sector exceeds target of Rs. 7,00,000 crore in the year 2013-14

6. India recorded a peak production of milk at 132.43 mt in the year 2012-13. India ranks first in global milk production and accounts for 17 per cent of world production. Yearly growth rate of milk production in India is 4.04% vi-a-vis world average of 2.2%.

Services:

1. India has the second fastest growing services sector with its CAGR at 9.0 per cent, just below China.

2. The size of domestic tourism has also crossed an estimated 1.1 billion annual travel visits.

3. The IT–Business Process Management (BPM) sector grew by an estimated 10.3 per cent, reaching US$ 105 billion in 2013-14.