Why in news?

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has tabled the Economic Survey 2023-24, which projects a real GDP growth of 6.5 to 7 per cent.

What’s in today’s article?

• Key highlights of Economic Survey 2023-24

Key highlights of Economic Survey 2023-24

• Climate Change and Energy Transition: Dealing with Trade-Offs
  • A report by the International Finance Corporation recognises India’s efforts to achieve committed climate actions, highlighting that it is the only G20 nation in line with 2-degree centigrade warming.
  • India has made significant progress on climate action in terms of an increase in its renewable energy capacity and improvement in energy efficiency.
    • As of 31 May 2024, the share of non-fossil sources in the installed electricity generation capacity has reached 45.4 per cent.
    • Further, the country has reduced the emission intensity of its GDP from 2005 levels by 33 per cent in 2019.
  • India’s GDP between 2005 and 2019 has grown with a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of about 7 per cent, whereas the emissions grew at a CAGR of about 4 per cent.
  • The Government has launched several clean coal initiatives, including the Coal Gasification Mission.
  • Total annual energy savings of 51 million tonnes of oil equivalent translates to a total annual cost savings of ₹1,94,320 Crore and emissions reduction of around 306 million tonnes.
  • Expanding renewable energy and clean fuels will increase demand for land and water.
  • Government issued sovereign green bonds amounting to ₹16,000 Crore in January-February 2023 followed by ₹20,000 Crore in October-December 2023.
• Social Sector - Benefits that Empower
  • The digitisation of healthcare, education and governance has been a force multiplier for every rupee spent on a welfare programme.
  • Gini coefficient, an indicator of inequality, has declined from 0.283 to 0.266 for the rural sector and from 0.363 to 0.314 for the urban sector of the country.
  • More than 34.7 crore Ayushman Bharat cards have been generated, and the scheme has covered 7.37 crore hospital admissions.
    • 22 mental disorders are covered under the Ayushman Bharat – PMJAY health insurance.
  • ‘Poshan Bhi Padhai Bhi’ programme for early childhood education aims to develop the world’s largest, universal, high-quality preschool network at Anganwadi Centres.
  • Vidyanjali initiative played crucial role in enhancing educational experiences of over 1.44 cr. students facilitating community engagement and through volunteer contributions.
  • India is making rapid progress in R&D, with nearly one lakh patents granted in FY24, compared to less than 25,000 patent grants in FY20.
  • Under PM-AWAS-Gramin, 2.63 crore houses were constructed for the poor in the last nine years (as of 10 July 2024).
  • 15.14 lakh km road construction completed under Gram Sadak Yojana since 2014-15 (as of 10 July 2024).
• Employment and Skill Development: Towards Quality
  • Indian labour market indicators have improved in the last six years, with the unemployment rate declining to 3.2 per cent in 2022-23.
  • According to PLFS, more than 45 per cent of the workforce is employed in agriculture, 11.4 per cent in manufacturing, 28.9 per cent in services, and 13.0 percent is in construction.
    • From the gender perspective, the female labour force participation rate (FLFPR) has been rising for six years.
  • Manufacturing sector is less exposed to AI as industrial robots are neither as nimble nor as cost-effective as human labour.
  • The gig workforce is expected to expand to 2.35 crore by 2029–30.
  • Indian economy needs to generate an average of nearly 78.5 lakh jobs annually until 2030 in the non-farm sector to cater to the rising workforce.
    • Compared to 50.7 crore persons in 2022, the country would need to care for 64.7 crore persons in 2050.
  • Direct public investment equivalent to 2 per cent of GDP has the potential to generate 11 million jobs, nearly 70 per cent of which will go to women.
• Agriculture and Food Management – Plenty of Upside Left If We Get It Right
  • Agriculture and allied sector registered an average annual growth rate of 4.18 per cent at constant prices over the last five years.
  • As of 31 January 2024, the total credit disbursed to agriculture amounted to ₹ 22.84 lakh Crore.
  • As of January 31, 2024, banks issued 7.5 crores Kisan Credit Card (KCC) with a limit of ₹9.4 lakh crores.
  • An area of 90.0 lakh hectares has been covered under micro irrigation in the country under the Per drop more crop (PDMC) from 2015-16 to 2023-24.
  • It is estimated that for every rupee invested in agricultural research (including education), there is a payoff of ₹ 13.85.
• Industry - Small and Medium Matters
  • Economic growth of 8.2 per cent in FY24 was supported by an industrial growth rate of 9.5 per cent.
  • Accelerated Coal production over the past five years has helped in reducing import dependence.
  • India’s pharmaceutical market stands as world's third largest by volume with the valuation of USD 50 billion.
  • India is the world's second-largest clothing manufacturer and one of the top five exporting nations.
  • India's electronics manufacturing sector accounts for an estimated 3.7 per cent of the global market share in FY22.
  • PLI schemes attracted over ₹1.28 Lakh Crore of investment until May 2024, which has led to production/sales of ₹10.8 Lakh Crore and employment generation (direct & indirect) of over ₹8.5 Lakh.
• Services - Fuelling Growth Opportunities
  • Services sector contribution to the overall Gross Value Added (GVA) has now reached to the level prior to pandemic i.e. about 55%.
  • Globally, India’s services exports constituted 4.4 per cent of the world's commercial services exports in 2022.
  • India's share in digitally delivered services exports globally increased to 6.0 per cent in 2023 from 4.4 per cent in 2019.
  • The aviation sector in India has grown substantially, with a 15 per cent YoY increase in total air passengers handled at Indian airports in FY24.
    • Air cargo handled at Indian airports increased by 7 per cent YoY to 33.7 lakh tonnes in FY24.
  • Tourism industry witnessed over 92 lakh foreign tourist arrivals in 2023, implying a YoY increase of 43.5 per cent.
  • Global Capability Centres (GCCs) in India have grown significantly, from over 1,000 centres in FY15 to more than 1,580 centres by FY23.
  • The Indian e-commerce industry is expected to cross USD 350 billion by 2030.
  • The overall tele-density (number of telephones per 100 population) in India increased from 75.2 per cent in March 2014 to 85.7 per cent in March 2024.
    • The internet density also increased to 68.2 per cent in March 2024.
    • As of 31 March, 2024, 6,83,175 kilometers of Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) has been laid, connecting a total of 2,06,709 Gram Panchayats (GPs) by OFC in the BharatNet phase I & II.
  • Two significant transformations are reshaping India's services landscape:
    • rapid technology-driven transformation of domestic service delivery and
    • diversification of India's services exports.
• Infrastructure – Lifting Potential Growth
• The average pace of NH construction increased by nearly 3 times from 11.7 km per day in FY14 to around 34 km per day by FY24.
• Indian Railways to introduce Vande metro trainset coaches in FY 25.
• In FY24, new terminal buildings at 21 airports have been operationalised which has led to an overall increase in passenger handling capacity by approximately 62 million passengers per annum.
• India’s rank in the International Shipments category in the World Bank Logistics Performance Index has improved to 22nd in 2023 from 44th in 2014.
• The clean energy sector in India saw new investment of ₹8.5 lakh crore (USD 102.4 billion) between 2014 and 2023.
• Climate Change and India: Why We Must Look at the Problem Through Our Lens
  • Current global strategies for climate change are flawed and not universally applicable.
  • The Western approach does not seek to address the root of the problem, i.e. overconsumption, but rather chooses to substitute the means to achieve overconsumption.
  • A one-size-fits-all approach will not work, and developing countries need to be free to choose their own pathways.