The Economic Survey 2016-17 will be released today. Here are five things to know.

1. What is the Economic Survey 2017?

Economic Survey 2017 is an assessment documents that presents a picture of the Economic Landscape of the country. The Economic Survey is released one day before the Budget.

The Budget is for the fiscal year 2017-2018, while the Economic Survey is as assessment of the last fiscal year , preceding it , that is 2016-2017.

It basically gives a detailed overview of different sectors and suggests the reforms measures required.

2. When is the Economic Survey Released ?

The Economic Survey is released one day before the Budget. The Budget is set to be presented on February 1, 2017. The Economic Survey is released on January 31, 2017 this year.

3. Who prepares the Economic Survey?

The Economic Survey is presented by the Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India. Arvind Subramaniam and his team will be presenting the Economic Survey 2017.

4. What is the significance of the Economic Survey?

First, the Economic Survey gives a holistic overview of the economy and sector specific issues.

Second. problems assessed in the Economic Survey and policy suggested, are often put to use in the coming years by the government. For example, Direct Benefit Transfer was much talked about in the past economic surveys and is being implemented right now.

5. What can we expect in the Economic Survey 2017?

One of the key things we can expect is Universal Basic Income.  It may be recommended by the Economic Survey – a form of social security that can be paid to individuals.

The government is not bound to follow the recommendations of the Survey. Government have been known to not follow very rational policy measures suggested by the Economic Survey.

Similarly, we can expect Banking Transaction Tax – a tax on all banking transactions ( one original proposal says – declare cash holdings as illegal, remove income tax, and have only Banking Transaction Charge) and lowering corporate tax, in light of government’s demonetization initiative.

Happy Waiting 🙂

And those of you waiting to get a print-out, you can pre-order one  at Flavido.com.