The Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday tabled in the Lok Sabha the second volume of the Economic Survey for 2016-17.
The second volume, among other things, contains updated macroeconomic data.
FISCAL UNCERTAINTY
The Survey has come out with a pessimistic view on growth forecast with downward risk to the earlier estimated growth range of 6.75-7.5 per cent GDP growth for 2017-18.
The second volume expects CPI inflation to be below 4 per cent by March this fiscal.
"Growth is expected to undershoot the earlier range and this is what the Survey indicates," said an economy watcher in his initial reactions.
The second volume of the Economic Survey has also noted that the Reserve Bank of India had overestimated the consumer price index (CPI)-based inflation by above 100 basis points in six of 14 quarters. Also, the current repo rates are 25-75 basis points above neutral rates, indicating that there is room for further reduction in repo rates.
On oil prices, the second volume has noted that geopolitics is not as big a risk for oil prices as before.
The Economic Survey has also highlighted that deflationary impulses are weighing on the economy.