INTRODUCTION‌

A

s the date for the presentation of the Union Budget 2017–18 was advanced to February 1, 2017, the Economic Survey 2016–17 also got released almost one month earlier. But the release the survey was with a

caveat—only volume one was being released—the volume two to come later in the year as a standalone document. The survey came in the wake of a set of ‘tumultuous’ international developments—the Brexit, political changes in advanced economies and two radical domestic policy actions, namely—the GST and demonetisation.

The survey accepts the difficulty to either ‘deify’ or ‘demonise’ the recent government move of demonetisation, but it tries to respond to it in an exclusive chapter. The document adds—”

....history, however, offers little guide for assessment and prognostication, given the unprecedented nature of the act of demonetisation....what we can definitely say is that there have been short-term costs but there are also potential long-term benefits—appropriate action can help minimize the former while maximizing the latter”. The survey is structurally divided into three sections, namely—The Perspective, The Proximate, and The Persistent

—with a section called “Eight Interesting Facts About India”, to entice the reader. A concise analyses is presented here on the Survey—put in three broad sections, namely—”Performance in 2016–17”; “Policies in Perspective” and “Outlook for 2017–18”.