India's Economic Survey 2025-26, tabled in Parliament on January 30, 2026, projects robust GDP growth amid global uncertainties and recommends key reforms for strategic resilience. It emphasizes manufacturing revival, digital curbs and policy overhauls to bolster economic stability. Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised it as a roadmap for inclusive development.
The Economic Survey 2025-26, presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Lok Sabha, underscores India's economy growing at 7.4% in FY26, outpacing global peers despite trade disruptions from US tariffs under President Trump. It forecasts 6.8-7.2% growth for FY27, raising the potential growth rate to 7% from 6.5% three years ago. Chief Economic Adviser V Anantha Nageswaran highlighted the resurgence of 'economic statecraft', where nations use trade tools like export controls and tariffs for geopolitical aims, citing US restrictions on semiconductors to China and China's curbs on rare earth minerals affecting India's auto sector. The survey warns of vulnerabilities in global value chains amid ultra-nationalism and skepticism toward free trade, urging India to cultivate 'strategic indispensability' through critical roles in supply chains. To boost manufacturing, it proposes a 'National Input Cost Reduction Strategy' via deregulation, noting services alone cannot sustain growth and advocating goods exports for national security stability. It calls for reducing government stakes in listed PSUs to 26% for deeper disinvestment, correcting inverted duty structures and pragmatic Quality Control Orders to enhance competitiveness. On rural employment, the survey praises MGNREGS gains but hails the VB-G RAM G Act 2025 as a 'decisive shift', replacing the 2005 law to align with Viksit Bharat 2047 goals, including infrastructure and climate resilience. Addressing digital addiction, it recommends age verification on social media and offline youth hubs, linking compulsive use to productivity losses in a nation with 970 million internet users. It also suggests re-examining the RTI Act to exempt deliberative processes, preventing it from becoming an 'end in itself'. Prime Minister Modi described the survey as a 'comprehensive picture of India’s Reform Express', focusing on farmers, MSMEs and youth employment. Critics, however, note its arcane language and lack of policy failure analysis, such as underperforming PLIs and internship schemes.
