Union Budget 2025: Nirmala Sitharaman to table the Economic Survey 2024-25 in Parliament

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Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is set to table the Economic Survey 2024-25 in Parliament on Friday afternoon, providing crucial insights into the country's economic performance and shaping expectations for the upcoming Union Budget 2025, ANI reported.

Ahead of the presentation, the finance minister left her residence and reached the Parliament.

As is the convention, Sitharaman will table the pre-budget detailed state of the economy document in front of the Parliament, a day ahead of the Union Budget presentation for the next fiscal year - 2025-26.

The Economic Survey will be tabled in Lok Sabha at 12 noon and at 2 PM in Rajya Sabha, ANI cited.

Under the direction of the chief economic adviser, the Economic Division of the Department of Economic Affairs in the Ministry of Finance prepared the Economic Survey document, which provides information on the state of the economy and a number of indicators for 2024-25 (April-March) as well as some projections for the upcoming fiscal year.

According to ANI, the document might also provide some insight into the style and tone of the actual 2025-2026 budget, which is scheduled for presentation on Saturday.

The first economic survey reportedly came into existence back in 1950-51, when it used to be a part of the budget documents. In the 1960s, it was separated from the Budget documents and presented the day before the release of the Union Budget.

In 2022, the central theme was 'Agile Approach', which highlighted India's economic response to the COVID-19 pandemic shock. In 2023, it was 'recovery complete', when the economy staged a broad-based recovery from pandemic-induced contraction, Russian-Ukraine conflict, and inflation, and ascended to the pre-pandemic growth path. In 2024, the focus is on economic resilience, ANI reported.

The Survey document usually includes new need-based chapters that require extra attention in addition to the sectoral parts.

For the rest of the Modi 3.0 term, all eyes will be on the government's major announcements and its outlook on the economy. The economy's weak GDP and consumption are the backdrop for this upcoming budget.

Sitharaman will have presented his sixth budget with this upcoming presentation. Surpassing the previous record held by Former Prime Minister Morarji Desai, who served as finance minister from 1959 to 1964 and presented five annual budgets and one interim budget.

The July-September quarter of the current fiscal year 2024-2025 saw a 5.4 percent real growth in the Indian economy. Compared to the RBI's prediction of 7 percent growth, the quarterly growth was significantly lower. India's GDP expanded more slowly in the April-June quarter than the central bank had predicted.

Parliament's budget session is scheduled to begin on January 31 and conclude on April 4.

The budget will be presented on February 1. The Union Budget will be presented to the Lok Sabha by the Finance Minister at 11 a.m. on budget day. The government's economic objectives, proposed revenue and expenditure plans, tax reforms, and other noteworthy announcements will all be included in the budget speech, ANI inputs.

(With inputs from ANI)