Economic Surveys way off mark in projecting outlook in recent years

Many of their ideas, such as DBT, diesel deregulation, bad bank, flexible inflation targeting have been launched, some of them partially; others such as UBI, printing more money haven't taken off

Economic surveys are essentially prescriptions made by the economic advisors in the finance ministry, led by the chief economic advisor. This time, there is no chief economic advisor, as was the case when the Modi government assumed office in 2014. In recent times, even before Covid hit the economy, making projections for the next year, particularly for GDP growth, has become tricky. Of the eight surveys presented during the Modi regime so far, three predicted either a somewhat correct number or underestimated the actual growth. One was presented when the base year was changed in between. The remaining four, all