• State Bank of India’s Economic Research Department has released the Ecowrap Report.
• Key Findings of the Ecowrap Report: India’s GDP growth is expected to be in the range of 8.2% to 8.5 % in FY22.

States opting for Freebies:

Several states in the country are resorting to offering freebies like farm loan waivers and restoring the old pension system. Telangana has committed 35% of revenue receipts to finance populist schemes. Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and others have all committed to spend 5-19% of their revenue receipts on similar schemes. These populist schemes are economically unsustainable and also limit states flexibility to spend on development projects. With the GST compensation from the Center ending in June, the states need to re-prioritise expenditure in accordance with the revenue receipts.

Source: EPIC May 2022