Nirmala Sitharaman tables Economic Survey; GDP growth seen expanding by 11 per cent

New Delhi, Jan 29: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday presented the Economic Survey that details the state of the economy ahead of the government's Budget for fiscal year beginning April 1, 2021.

The Economic Survey 2020-21, authored by a team led by Chief Economic Adviser Krishnamurthy Venkata Subramanian, details the state of different sectors of the economy as well as reforms that should be undertaken to accelerate growth.

The economy, which was battered by the coronavirus lockdown, is expected to see a strong recovery in the 2021-22 fiscal year.

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is projected to contract by a record 7.7 per cent in the current fiscal ending March 31, 2021.

India witnessed its last annual contraction of 5.2 per cent in fiscal year 1979-80.

The Economic Survey 2020-21 said the agriculture sector is the only silver lining while services, manufacturing and construction were most hit by the lockdown that was imposed to curb the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"After an estimated 7.7 per cent pandemic-driven contraction in 2020-21, India''s real GDP is projected to record a growth of 11.0 percent in 2021-22 and nominal GDP by 15.4 per cent. These conservative estimates reflect upside potential that can manifest due to the continued normalisation in economic activities as the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines gathers traction," the Survey said.