Economic Survey Predicts �V-Shaped� Recovery With 11% GDP Growth in 2021, Fiscal Deficit Target

29-01-2021

The Economic Survey 2020-21 has predicted a "V-shaped" economic recovery for the nation, spurred by COVID-19 vaccination programme. India had started the world's largest coronavirus inoculation drive on January 16 month with healthcare workers and frontline workers. The government is likely to miss its fiscal deficit target of 3.5 per cent of gross domestic product this year, the survey said, adding that there�s need for more sustained and calibrated measures to facilitate the process of economic recovery in the new fiscal year. According to the Economic Survey 2020-21, tabled by in the Parliament on Friday on the first day of the Budget Session, India's real gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to grow by 11 per cent in 2021-22 on the back of the nationwide vaccine drive, which will help to prevent the coronavirus outbreak spread further. For 2020-21, the economy is expected to contract by 7.7 per cent, the survey predicted. This is in line with the forecasts by the Reserve Bank of India, most international agencies and private experts. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had in December said it expected the country�s GDP to contract 7.5 per cent in the year ending 31 March, 2021. Coronavirus pandemic has severely affected the economic activities in country since March, 2020. Millions of people have lost jobs. "Agriculture has remained the silver lining, while contact-based services, manufacturing and construction sectors were the worst hit by the COVID-19 pandemic," said the survey. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday presented the Economic Survey, in Parliament. Indian economy contracted by a massive 23.9 per cent year-on-year (YoY) in the April-June quarter. This was the first GDP contraction in more than 40 years. For the July-September quarter, India's GDP contracted 7.5 percent year-on-year, as per estimates released by the National Statistical Office.