Economic Survey: Indirect taxpayers surges by 50%; GDP estimated to 7-7.5% in FY19

"A series of major reforms undertaken over the past year will allow real GDP growth to reach 6.75% this fiscal and will rise to 7.0 to 7.5% in 2018-19," says Economic Survey tabled in Parliament. Also, the GST implementation led to the rise in indirect taxpayers by 50%.

The Economic Survey has, however, flagged that current high oil prices are a major concern.

Economy accelerated in second half of current fiscal due to GST, bank recapitalisation, liberalisation of FDI and higher exports, said the Economic Survey, adding that the Gross Value Added (GVA) expected to grow by 6.1 per cent in 2017-18 as compared to 6.6 per cent in 2016-17.

The Economic Survey also said there is need to address pendency, delays and backlogs in the appellate and judicial arenas.

As the way forward, the Economic Survey 2017-18 recommends that though macro-economic growth and efficient markets are essential, it is necessary to equally ensure that the benefits of growth are equitably accessible to all citizens to make growth broad-based.

Meanwhile, utmost priority to social infrastructure like education, health and social protection is given by the Government to engineer an inclusive and sustainable growth for India.

On the subject of “Social Infrastructure, Employment and Human Development”, bridging the gender gaps in education, skill development, employment, earnings and reducing social inequalities prevalent in the society have been the underlying goals of the development strategy to enhance human capabilities.

The Survey notes that India is poised to grow as one of the leading knowledge economies where education, skill development and health will remain priorities for the Government.

The Survey adds that the government has been enhancing the expenditure on human capital along with adopting measures to improve the efficiency of expenditure by convergence of schemes.

The Survey concludes that strengthening the policy and institutional eco-system supporting inclusive growth deserves to be a top policy priority. Following the laying of paper, both Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha were adjourned to meet on February 1, 2018.