New Delhi, Jan 29 (NationPress) The Economic Survey for 2025-26, presented in Parliament on Friday, has increased India’s potential growth rate to 7.0 percent, a rise from 6.5 percent three years prior, attributing this to the ongoing domestic reforms and public investment that are enhancing the economy’s inherent growth capacity, even amidst global challenges.

According to the survey, the development of infrastructure—highlighted by the airport network's doubling over the past decade and the swift expansion of freight movement via inland waterways—is alleviating logistics constraints and boosting overall economic efficiency.

While headline inflation continues to experience fluctuations due to food prices, the steady trend of core inflation (excluding gold and silver) indicates a strengthening of supply-side conditions throughout the economy, aligning with increasing productive capacity and improved logistics. Furthermore, ongoing state-level deregulation efforts are empowering small and medium enterprises to grow and better integrate into formal value chains, thereby enhancing the economy’s medium-term growth potential, as noted in the survey.

The report also highlights that a predictable and reliable fiscal path from the Centre in recent years has anchored overall macroeconomic stability by balancing growth needs with fiscal sustainability.

The Centre's fiscal consolidation journey illustrates the importance of clearly defined fiscal goals coupled with retained flexibility, which allows fiscal policy to foster rather than hinder growth during uncertain times.

In this context, the Union Budget for FY22 laid out a medium-term glide path, aiming for a fiscal deficit below 4.5 percent of GDP by FY26, rather than imposing strict annual targets, to ensure that growth-promoting expenditures, particularly capital expenditures, were not compromised, as clarified in the survey.

The global landscape is undergoing transformations due to geopolitical shifts that will impact investment, supply chains, and growth prospects for the foreseeable future. In light of the current global upheaval, India must focus on building resilience, relentlessly innovating, and maintaining its course towards a Viksit Bharat, rather than opting for quick fixes to immediate pressures, Chief Economic Adviser V. Anantha Nageswaran remarked.

“The positive takeaway is that, overall, the evidence presented in this Survey indicates that India is poised to make wise decisions,” he concluded.