Economic Survey 2025-26 for UPSC: Chapter-wise Numbers, New Ideas and Likely Questions
The Survey in One Page: Headline Numbers
🎯 Exam priority: High-yield, and the best single source of 'current affairs' stems. The Economic Survey is the Government's own account of the year's economy, tabled the day before the Budget. UPSC does not ask it chapter by chapter; it lifts a number, an index or a policy idea from it and sets it in a statement. Since 2025 the stems also carry news items — critical minerals, green hydrogen, rare earths — that the Survey treats at length. Mains asks for the Survey's arguments, not its figures: strategic resilience, state capacity, the shift from deficit to debt targets.
The Economic Survey 2025-26 has sixteen chapters and a statistical appendix. It was written when the world's mood was dominated by the tariffs that the USA imposed in 2025, the rise of AI investment and the return of geopolitics to economics. This note gives you the headline of each chapter, the numbers worth carrying, the new ideas the Survey introduces, and then how UPSC could ask them.
The headline numbers
Indicator (Survey 2025-26) | What the Survey says |
Real GDP growth, FY26 (First Advance Estimate) | 7.4%; GVA growth 7.3% — the fastest-growing major economy for the fourth consecutive year |
Medium-term growth potential | Strengthened to 7% |
Retail inflation (CPI) | 1.7% in 2025-26 (to December 2025), driven by a steep fall in food prices |
Repo rate | Cut by a cumulative 100 bps from April to December 2025; 5.25% at December 2025 |
Capital adequacy of scheduled commercial banks | CRAR 17.2% (September 2025); GNPA at a multi-decadal low |
Exports | Record: USD 825.3 billion in FY25 and USD 418.5 billion in H1 FY26 |
Current account deficit, H1 FY26 | USD 15 billion (0.8% of GDP) against USD 25.3 billion (1.3%) in H1 FY25 |
Fiscal deficit | 9.2% of GDP in FY21 → 4.8% in FY25 → 4.4% budgeted for FY26 |
General government debt | Down by about 7.1 percentage points since 2020; medium-term anchor 50 ± 1% for the Centre |
Capital expenditure (Centre) | ₹3.07 lakh crore (FY19) → ₹5.92 lakh crore (FY22) → ₹11.21 lakh crore budgeted for FY26 |
Workforce | Over 56 crore employed; working-age population (15-59) to exceed 98 crore in ten years |
Agriculture | About one-fifth of national income at current prices but 46.1% of the workforce |
Note one correction in how to read this table. A Survey's 'growth' is the figure available when it was written — here the First Advance Estimate. The Statistics Ministry has since moved GDP to a new series (see the update box in Section 4), so always quote a growth number with its source and date.
Chapters 1-5: Growth, Fiscal, Monetary, External and Inflation
The Survey's first four macro chapters tell one story: the economy is growing fast, prices are stable, the State's books are better than they were and the external accounts are comfortable — and yet the world around India is the least predictable in decades.
Chapters 1-5: the macro picture
Ch.1 State of the Economy — 'Pushing the Growth Frontier'. Growth is domestic-demand led — private consumption and capital formation — with services the key supply-side contributor and manufacturing gaining traction. The global backdrop is 'fragile and diverging': the tariffs the USA announced in April 2025 raised fears of lower growth and higher inflation that proved short-lived because trade deals lowered the US effective tariff rate and businesses front-loaded exports and spending. The Survey's own idea is economic statecraft (Box I.1) — the deliberate use of economic tools to achieve strategic ends such as security or foreign-policy aims — and the argument that India's response should be strategic resilience and, beyond it, indispensability.
Ch.2 Fiscal Developments — 'Anchoring Stability through Credible Consolidation'. The Centre's revenue receipts rose from about 8.5% of GDP (FY16-FY20 average) to about 9.1% (FY22-FY25), on buoyant direct taxes, better compliance and formalisation. Revenue expenditure fell from 13.6% of GDP in FY22 to 10.9% in FY25, which made room for capital expenditure: from an average of 1.7% of GDP before the pandemic to about 3%, with effective capital expenditure at 4% of GDP in FY25. The SASCI scheme (Special Assistance to States for Capital Investment) helped keep State capex near 2.4% of GDP. The Survey warns that the rapid spread of unconditional cash transfers by States raises expenditure rigidity and can crowd out capital and human-capital spending. See Article 29 for the Budget numbers that follow.
Ch.3 Monetary Management and Financial Intermediation — 'Refining the Regulatory Touch'. The MPC cut the repo rate by 100 basis points between April and December 2025 (to 5.25%), and liquidity was added through CRR cuts and open market operations. Bank asset quality is at multi-decadal lows of GNPA, capital adequacy is 17.2%, household savings are shifting towards equities and mutual funds, and GIFT City is India's first international financial services centre. The challenges: regulation of AI in finance and the balance of growth with stability.
Ch.4 External Sector — 'Playing the Long Game'. Exports hit records (USD 825.3 billion in FY25; USD 418.5 billion in H1 FY26), with services and higher-value manufacturing (electronics, pharmaceuticals, electrical machinery) leading. The services surplus offsets a large share of the merchandise deficit; the CAD narrowed to 0.8% of GDP in H1 FY26. Remittances in most years exceed gross FDI inflows, making them a dependable source of external funding. The Trade Policy Uncertainty Index and the Global Economic Policy Uncertainty Index peaked in April 2025. See Articles 13-14.
Ch.5 Inflation — 'Tamed and Anchored'. Global inflation fell from a peak of 8.7% in 2022 to 4.2% in 2025 (advanced economies 2-3%; emerging markets 5.3%, from 9.7%). India's CPI reached 1.7% in 2025-26 on lower food prices, especially vegetables, pulses and spices; core inflation looks sticky mainly because of precious metals — exclude them and the underlying pressure is soft. The chapter also notes a long-run fall in the terms of trade of manufacturing relative to agriculture and greater rural volatility because of higher food weights.
Finance, Regulation and the External Strategy in Depth
The Survey's more detailed arguments are where Mains questions come from. Three are worth knowing beyond the headline: how the financial system is regulated, how the external sector should be financed, and why the Survey wants the Centre and States to move together on fiscal discipline.
Finance, regulation and the external strategy — in more depth
Financial system strength. The 2025 Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP), run jointly by the IMF and World Bank, found a resilient, diversified and inclusive system: financial-sector assets near 187% of GDP in 2024 and capital markets that grew from 144% of GDP in 2017 to 175% in 2024, with banks and NBFCs holding adequate capital even under severe stress.
Regulation-making. The RBI's framework for making regulations (May 2025) institutionalises consultation, an Advisory Group on Regulation and a Regulatory Review Cell that re-examines each regulation at least once every five to seven years — a shift from reactive to anticipatory regulation. The Survey also asks for proportionate, differentiated supervision: a shorter leash for fragile segments and greater latitude for mature markets.
Insurance and pensions. IRDAI has moved towards principle-based regulation, and the insurance-law amendment titled 'Sabka Bima Sabki Raksha' digitises insurance. PFRDA's NPS e-Shramik model (October 2025) brings gig and platform workers into retirement saving; partnerships with FPOs and MSMEs extend NPS and APY to farm workers and self-help groups.
Financing the external deficit. The chapter argues that India's external sustainability depends on the quality of its financing: FDI is the most stable source, and holding on to it in a competitive capital market needs a better investment climate and deeper value-chain integration. A stable currency, it argues, rests on export competitiveness — which means cutting manufacturing costs (correcting inverted duties, lowering logistics and regulatory costs) and only selective import substitution grounded in productivity and measurable results.
Centre and States. Markets price government debt on a consolidated basis, so State-level revenue deficits and committed expenditure — such as unconditional cash transfers — can raise sovereign yields. The Sixteenth Finance Commission shapes Centre-State transfers, and GST 2.0 and income-tax reform are expected to simplify the system and widen the base.
Chapters 6-16: Sectors, People and the New Themes
The next chapters take each sector in turn. Learn each with its one defining idea — UPSC usually tests the idea or the scheme attached to it.
Chapters 6-16: sectors, people and the new themes
Chapter | The idea to remember |
6 Agriculture and Food Management | Agriculture is a fifth of national income but 46.1% of jobs; productivity is held back by fragmented holdings, weak marketing and storage, and a fertiliser subsidy that over-uses urea; allied sectors are the growth driver (Articles 18-20) |
7 Services — 'From Stability to New Frontiers' | Services contribute more than half of GVA and are the most stable, high-growth, low-volatility anchor; India's services-led growth began at a much lower per-capita income than other countries'; new niches: orange economy, space services, hiking trails, marinas and ocean commercialisation |
8 Industry — 'Next Leap' | Five pillars: ease of doing business, R&D and innovation, skilling, infrastructure and logistics, scaling up MSMEs; PLI, the National Manufacturing Mission, the Anusandhan National Research Foundation and the RDI Fund |
9 Investment and Infrastructure | Public capex up 92% from FY19 to FY22 and about 89% more to ₹11.21 lakh crore for FY26; PM GatiShakti and the National Logistics Policy; infrastructure multiplier estimated at 2.5-3.5 times GDP over the medium term |
10 Environment and Climate | Mission LiFE; adaptation central to climate strategy through State Action Plans on Climate Change; balanced mitigation with renewables, storage and nuclear; transition risk shown by Europe's grid congestion; global climate finance is inadequate |
11 Education and Health | RTE 2009 and NEP 2020; Ayushman Bharat and the National Health Mission; emerging challenges — obesity, non-communicable disease and the psychological effects of digital exposure |
12 Employment and Skill Development | Four Labour Codes consolidating 29 central laws, notified on 21 November 2025; gig and platform workers; female participation barriers; vocational education |
13 Rural Development and Social Progress | Social mobility and community-led development; from participation to partnership |
14 The AI Ecosystem | A bottom-up, sector-specific, open and interoperable strategy rather than copying capital-heavy models; sequence governance — experiment, scale, then bind where risk is greatest; data value retained in India |
15 Urbanisation | Cities as critical economic infrastructure; cities raise under 0.6% of GDP in own-source revenue; urban property tax is only 0.15% of GDP; fragmented metropolitan governance |
16 Part I and II — State capacity and strategic indispensability | From strategic resilience (absorbing shocks) to strategic indispensability (being a source of reliability for others); bureaucratic risk-aversion and proceduralism; deregulation as institutional reorientation |
New Survey vocabulary UPSC may lift
Economic statecraft — using economic tools for strategic goals; differs from economic policy, which aims at deficits, inflation and growth. Strategic resilience → strategic indispensability is the Survey's prescription.
Effective capital expenditure — capital expenditure plus grants for creating capital assets; the Survey uses it to show the quality of expenditure (4% of GDP in FY25).
Medium-term growth potential of 7% — the Survey's judgement that India's trend growth has strengthened.
Economic Survey vs Budget. The Survey reviews the year and argues; it is not a legal document. The Budget (Article 112) is the annual financial statement, with legal force once the Appropriation and Finance Bills are passed.
Industry, Research and Jobs: The Structural Story
The Survey is blunt about two weaknesses that decide whether industry and jobs can scale: research spending and the quality of skilling.
Industry, research and jobs — the structural story
From import substitution to scale. The next phase of industrialisation, the Survey argues, should move from a model built mainly on import substitution towards one focused on scale, competitiveness, innovation and integration into global value chains; India should seek strategic resilience through diversification and depth of capability rather than complete self-reliance in every segment. MSMEs have to graduate from micro-scale production to formal, export-linked supply chains.
The research gap. Despite being the world's fourth-largest economy, India's Gross Expenditure on R&D is stagnant at about 0.64% of GDP, against a 2.5%-5% range in innovation-led economies such as the USA, China and Israel; the deficiency lies in private-sector collaboration and translating research into scale rather than in scientific talent. The Anusandhan National Research Foundation and the RDI Fund are meant to crowd in private R&D.
Jobs and skills. Over 56 crore people are employed and the working-age population is set to exceed 98 crore in a decade, with the demographic dividend peaking around 2030. The Survey asks for an integrated information system joining e-Shram (unorganised workers), the National Career Service (vacancies and skills) and SIDH (training opportunities), flexible vocational pathways starting at school level and targeted skilling for women and youth. It treats the four Labour Codes — 29 laws, notified 21 November 2025 — as the base for formal jobs and security for gig workers.
Services and the AI shift. The pace of technology is outrunning workforce adaptation, with rising demand for data analytics, cybersecurity, cloud and AI skills and tighter immigration regimes in several advanced economies; the Survey's answer is productivity, innovation, skills aligned to emerging technologies and simpler regulation.
Since the Survey, and How UPSC Could Ask It Next
Update box: what has moved since the Survey was written
The Survey is a January 2026 document. Three things have changed since, and a 2027 paper can build on them (Articles 2, 4 and 5 have the details):
GDP series. On 27 February 2026 the Statistics Ministry released a new series with base year 2022-23, replacing the earlier base. Growth figures in the Survey belong to the old series' First Advance Estimate.
Inflation target. By Gazette notification S.O.1580(E) of 25 March 2026 the Government renewed the 4% CPI target with a ±2% tolerance band for five years to 31 March 2031.
Monetary stance. At its 7 October 2026 meeting the MPC raised the repo rate by 25 bps to 5.50% and moved to a stance of calibrated tightening; the Survey's picture of 1.7% inflation and rate cuts has been overtaken by rising food and fuel prices (CPI 4.8% in August 2026).
Exam habit: when a stem says 'according to the latest', check which document's date it quotes. A question on the Survey's inflation is answered from the Survey; a question on the current repo rate is answered from the latest MPC.
How UPSC could ask the Survey next
The number-in-a-statement stem. 'India's real GDP growth for FY26 was placed at 7.4% in the First Advance Estimate' or 'India's CPI inflation was 1.7%' — with a near-miss like 7.3% (the GVA figure) or 2.8% (the IMF figure for CY2025). Know both numbers and what each measures.
The 'which institution' stem. Who publishes the Survey (Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, under the Chief Economic Adviser); who publishes the Global Competitiveness Report (World Economic Forum); who gives the repo-rate decision (MPC, not the RBI Governor alone).
The scheme-in-the-news stem. Labour Codes (29 laws, four codes, notified 21 November 2025), SASCI, PM GatiShakti, National Manufacturing Mission, ANRF and the RDI Fund, Mission LiFE. Know what each does and one number.
Mains angles. (1) Is 'strategic indispensability' a realistic goal for India's manufacturing? (2) How do State cash transfers affect fiscal federalism and capex? (3) Why is the Survey sceptical of copying capital-intensive AI models? (4) Why is the gap between urban expenditure needs and municipal own-source revenue (0.15% of GDP in property tax) a structural problem? (5) Should core inflation include precious metals?
Further Reading
NCERT Economics textbooks (Class 11–12), the Economic Survey, the Union Budget documents and RBI publications cited in this note — the primary sources behind every figure above.
Test Yourself: Practice Questions & PYQs
Twelve practice questions on the Survey's numbers, ideas and the later developments, followed by real UPSC questions on themes the Survey covers (RBI, ESG disclosure, critical minerals, global debt).
Practice Questions
Q1. According to the Economic Survey 2025-26, the First Advance Estimates place India's real GDP growth for FY26 at
(a) 7.0 per cent
(b) 7.4 per cent
(c) 8.2 per cent
(d) 6.5 per cent
Show answer
Answer: (b) — The Survey cites the First Advance Estimates: real GDP growth 7.4 per cent and GVA growth 7.3 per cent, the fourth consecutive year as the fastest-growing major economy. It also puts medium-term growth potential at 7 per cent.
Q2. Consider the following statements about the Economic Survey 2025-26:
1. It states that India's medium-term growth potential has strengthened to 7 per cent.
2. It reports India's retail inflation (CPI) at 1.7 per cent in 2025-26.
3. It states that the repo rate was cut by a cumulative 200 basis points between April and December 2025.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
(a) 2 and 3 only
(b) 1, 2 and 3
(c) 1 and 2 only
(d) 1 only
Show answer
Answer: (c) — 1 and 2 are correct. The cumulative repo cut from April to December 2025 was 100 basis points (to 5.25 per cent), not 200, so 3 is wrong.
Q3. The Economic Survey 2025-26 reports the Centre's effective capital expenditure in FY25 at about
(a) 4 per cent of GDP
(b) 1.7 per cent of GDP
(c) 6 per cent of GDP
(d) 3 per cent of GDP
Show answer
Answer: (a) — Capital expenditure rose from an average of 1.7 per cent of GDP before the pandemic to about 3 per cent; adding grants for creating capital assets, effective capital expenditure reached 4 per cent of GDP in FY25.
Q4. According to the Economic Survey 2025-26, India's total exports in FY25 and H1 FY26 respectively were
(a) USD 825.3 billion and USD 418.5 billion
(b) USD 1.1 trillion and USD 520 billion
(c) USD 550 billion and USD 250 billion
(d) USD 700 billion and USD 350 billion
Show answer
Answer: (a) — The Survey records record exports of USD 825.3 billion (goods and services) in FY25 and USD 418.5 billion in H1 FY26, driven by services and non-petroleum, non-gems and jewellery exports.
Q5. Which of the following best describes 'economic statecraft' as discussed in the Economic Survey 2025-26?
(a) The management of public sector enterprises
(b) The regulation of the banking system by the RBI
(c) The deliberate use of economic tools to achieve strategic or foreign-policy ends
(d) The preparation of the annual Union Budget
Show answer
Answer: (c) — Box I.1 defines economic statecraft as using economic means to achieve strategic ends, going beyond ordinary fiscal, monetary and trade policy — the context for the Survey's call for strategic resilience and indispensability.
Q6. The four Labour Codes, whose implementation was notified on 21 November 2025, together consolidated how many central labour laws?
(a) 29
(b) 12
(c) 44
(d) 19
Show answer
Answer: (a) — The Code on Wages 2019, the Industrial Relations Code 2020, the Code on Social Security and the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code 2020 consolidated 29 central laws.
Q7. Which one of the following statements about agriculture is given in the Economic Survey 2025-26?
(a) Agriculture contributes under 5 per cent of national income
(b) Agriculture and allied activities contribute nearly one-fifth of national income but employ 46.1 per cent of the workforce
(c) Agriculture employs less than 10 per cent of the workforce
(d) Agriculture contributes half of national income and employs 20 per cent of the workforce
Show answer
Answer: (b) — The Survey records the sector as nearly one-fifth of national income at current prices but 46.1 per cent of the workforce, which is why productivity is a central concern.
Q8. Which of the following is NOT one of the five pillars of industrial reform identified in the Economic Survey 2025-26?
(a) Scaling up MSMEs
(b) Ease of doing business
(c) Skilling
(d) Privatisation of all public sector banks
Show answer
Answer: (d) — The five pillars are ease of doing business, R&D and innovation, skilling, infrastructure and logistics, and scaling up MSMEs. Privatisation of all public sector banks is not a pillar.
Q9. The Economic Survey 2025-26 states that the Centre's capital expenditure rose from ₹5.92 lakh crore in FY22 to a budgeted allocation of ₹11.21 lakh crore for FY26. This is an increase of about
(a) 89 per cent
(b) 50 per cent
(c) 20 per cent
(d) 150 per cent
Show answer
Answer: (a) — 11.21 ÷ 5.92 is about 1.89, an increase of nearly 89 per cent. Between FY19 and FY22 the rise was 92 per cent (₹3.07 lakh crore to ₹5.92 lakh crore).
Q10. According to the Economic Survey 2025-26, urban property tax in India amounts to about what share of GDP?
(a) 1.5 per cent
(b) 5 per cent
(c) 0.15 per cent
(d) 10 per cent
Show answer
Answer: (c) — Urban property tax, the largest own-source revenue of cities, is only about 0.15 per cent of GDP, against 0.3-0.6 per cent for low- and middle-income countries, and Indian cities raise under 0.6 per cent of GDP in own-source revenues.
Q11. The Economic Survey 2025-26 describes India's desirable transition as one from
(a) strategic resilience to strategic indispensability
(b) import substitution to autarky
(c) free trade to protectionism
(d) public investment to private investment alone
Show answer
Answer: (a) — Chapter 16 frames the shift from absorbing shocks (strategic resilience) to becoming a source of reliability, capability and value for others (strategic indispensability).
Q12. At its meeting of 7 October 2026 the Monetary Policy Committee, after the Survey's easing phase to 5.25 per cent, decided to
(a) cut the repo rate to 5.00 per cent
(b) raise the repo rate by 25 basis points to 5.50 per cent
(c) raise the repo rate by 50 basis points to 5.75 per cent
(d) keep the repo rate unchanged at 5.25 per cent
Show answer
Answer: (b) — The MPC raised the repo rate by 25 basis points to 5.50 per cent and set a stance of calibrated tightening as CPI inflation rose to 4.8 per cent in August 2026 on food and fuel.
UPSC Previous Year Questions (PYQs)
Real UPSC Prelims questions on Survey themes, checked against the official paper and answer key.
Q1. (2025) Which of the following are the sources of income for the Reserve Bank of India?
I. Buying and selling Government bonds
II. Buying and selling foreign currency
III. Pension fund management
IV. Lending to private companies
V. Printing and distributing currency notes
Select the correct answer using the code given below.
(a) I, II and V
(b) I and II only
(c) II, III and IV
(d) I, III, IV and V
Show answer
Answer: (b) — The RBI earns income from its holdings of government securities (buying and selling them in open market operations) and from foreign-currency operations — interest and gains on its foreign assets. Pension fund management is not an RBI function, it does not lend to private companies, and printing currency is a cost to the RBI, not an income source. The Survey's monetary chapter turns on these roles.
Q2. (2025) Consider the following statements:
I. The Reserve Bank of India mandates all the listed companies in India to submit a Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report (BRSR).
II. In India, a company submitting a BRSR makes disclosures in the report that are largely non-financial in nature.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) Both I and II
(b) I only
(c) II only
(d) Neither I nor II
Show answer
Answer: (c) — The Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report is mandated by SEBI — not the RBI — for the top listed companies by market capitalisation, not for every listed company, so statement I is wrong. It is a report of environmental, social and governance disclosures, which are largely non-financial, so statement II is right.
Q3. (2025) Consider the following statements:
I. India has joined the Minerals Security Partnership as a member.
II. India is a resource-rich country in all the 30 critical minerals that it has identified.
III. The Parliament in 2023 has amended the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 empowering the Central Government to exclusively auction mining lease and composite license for certain critical minerals.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
(a) I and II only
(b) II and III only
(c) I and III only
(d) I, II and III
Show answer
Answer: (c) — India joined the Minerals Security Partnership in 2023, and the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2023 lets the Centre alone auction mining leases and composite licences for specified critical minerals. India is not resource-rich in all 30 identified critical minerals — it imports many, such as lithium and cobalt — so statement II is wrong. The Survey's external and environment chapters stress supply-chain security in critical minerals.
Q4. (2024) Consider the following statements : Statement-I : If the United States of America (USA) were to default on its debt, holders of US Treasury Bonds will not be able to exercise their claims to receive payment. Statement-II : The US Government debt is not backed by any hard assets, but only by the faith of the Government. Which one of the following is correct in respect of the above statements ?
(a) Statement-I is incorrect, but Statement-II is correct
(b) Both Statement-I and Statement-II are correct and Statement-II explains Statement-I
(c) Statement-I is correct, but Statement-II is incorrect
(d) Both Statement-I and Statement-II are correct, but Statement-II does not explain Statement-I
Show answer
Answer: (b) — US Treasury securities are unsecured: they are backed by the full faith and credit of the government and not by any specific hard asset. So if the USA defaulted, holders could not seize collateral to enforce their claims — statement II explains statement I. The Survey records elevated long-term bond yields across advanced economies as investors question deficit sustainability.
Q5. (2019) The Global Competitiveness Report is published by the
(a) World Bank
(b) United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
(c) World Economic Forum
(d) International Monetary Fund
Show answer
Answer: (c) — The Global Competitiveness Report is published by the World Economic Forum. Do not confuse it with the Ease of Doing Business report (World Bank, now discontinued) or UNCTAD's World Investment Report, which the Survey cites for FDI flows.
Mains Practice Questions
Use these to frame full-length answers. You don't have to answer one exactly — they show the angles UPSC tests, so let them guide which points you cover.
What does the Economic Survey 2025-26 mean by moving from 'strategic resilience' to 'strategic indispensability'? Is manufacturing the right route for India?
Evaluate the improvement in the quality of India's public expenditure since FY22 using the ratios of revenue expenditure, capital expenditure and effective capital expenditure.
Why does the Survey caution against State-level unconditional cash transfers, and how do they interact with fiscal consolidation and capital investment?
Discuss the Survey's case for a bottom-up, sector-specific and open approach to AI in India, in contrast with capital-intensive models of advanced economies.
Why are Indian cities financially weak despite generating most of national output, and what reforms does the Survey suggest?
UPSC Mains — Previous Years’ Questions on this topic (last 10 years)
These are the actual GS Mains questions UPSC has asked on this theme — real proof of how, and when, it is tested. Try to write a full answer to each.
2021 (GS-III): Explain the difference between computing methodology of India's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) before the year 2015 and after the year 2015.
2020 (GS-III): Define potential GDP and explain its determinants. What are the factors that have been inhibiting India from realizing its potential GDP?
2025 (GS-III): Explain how the Fiscal Health Index (FHI) can be used as a tool for assessing the fiscal performance of states in India. In what way would it encourage the states to adopt prudent and sustainable fiscal policies?
2024 (GS-III): Examine the pattern and trend of public expenditure on social services in the post-reforms period in India. To what extent this has been in consonance with achieving the objective of inclusive growth?
2024 (GS-III): What are the causes of persistent high food inflation in India? Comment on the effectiveness of the monetary policy of the RBI to control this type of inflation.