With Finance Minister Arun Jaitley all set to present the Union Budget on Saturday, the Economic Survey today pitched for ‘Big Bang’ reforms to improve business environment to target 8.1-8.5 per cent economic growth in next fiscal, and even eyes it in double digits.
1. Budget should continue the process of fiscal consolidation
2. Ordinances on coal, insurance, and land need to be translated into legislation
3. Constitutional amendment bill to implement the GST needs to be turned into legislation
4. Government and the RBI need to conclude the monetary policy framework agreement to consolidate the recent gains in inflation control
5. Reforms of labour and land laws and reducing the costs of doing business will need to be a joint endeavor of the states and center
6. The economy is likely to over-perform on the RBI’s inflation target by about 0.5-1.0 percentage point, opening up the space for further monetary policy easing
7. The outlook is favorable for the current account and its financing. However, risks from a shift in US monetary policy and turmoil in the Eurozone need to be watched
8. Successful implementation of the far-reaching changes for sharing of revenues between the Center and the States will advance the cause of cooperative federalism
9. Time is ripe for a more broad-based response to the challenges in agriculture for a sustained 4% growth
10. Budget should initiate the process of expenditure control to reduce both the fiscal and revenue deficits
11. Cash-based transfers based on the JAM number trinity – Jan Dhan, Aadhaar, Mobile – offer exciting possibilities to effectively target public resources
12. In the short to medium term, public investment especially by the railways, will have to play a catalytic role
13. An intervention that can be immediately implemented is to eliminate the current negative protection facing Indian manufacturing