The flagship annual Economic Survey of India provides a detailed analysis and record of major trends and developments in the economy. More importantly, it provides the backdrop to the budget proposal in the parliament. The 1990s saw the end of single-party domination and rise of coalition Governments. The elections in April and May 2014 once again brought back single-party rule in the country, that of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi's pragmatic foreign policy focuses on improving relations and linkages with neighboring countries in South Asia and the major global powers. He intends to boost India's economic and security interests through collaboration and alliances to accelerate India's development. Under his "First Develop India" initiative, he believes that investments will flow and the country will emerge as a manufacturing hub. The Government's Make In India initiative focuses on building and improving physical infrastructure, creating a digital net-work, and providing single-window clearances to encourage investments and make India a global hub for manufacturing.
The winds of change are visible. In FY 2013-14, India's GDP grew and marginally improved to 4.7 percent as compared to 4.5 percent the previous year. According to the IMF, India's GDP will grow at 5.4 percent in 2014-15. This Insight focuses on the findings of the annual Economic Sur-vey with some reference to the recent budget, tracking the growth pat-tern in selected manufacturing industries in 2014.
