Economic Survey 2018-19: Key Points on India's External Debt, Industry, and Export

Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday tabled the Economic Survey 2018-19 in the Parliament, which says that India's external debt was US$ 521.1 billion at end-December 2018, 1.6 per cent lower than its level at end-March 2018.

The other key highlights of Indian economy as depicted in the Survey 2018-19 are as follows:

* The key external debt indicators reflect that India's external debt is not unsustainable.

* The total liabilities-to-GDP ratio, inclusive of both debt and non-debt components, has declined from 43 per cent in 2015 to about 38 per cent at end of 2018.

* The share of foreign direct investment has risen and that of net portfolio investment fallen in total liabilities, reflecting a transition to more stable sources of funding the current account deficit.

* The Indian Rupee traded in the range of 65-68 per US$ in 2017-18 but depreciated to a range of 70-74 in 2018-19.

* The income terms of trade, a metric that measures the purchasing power to import, has been on a rising trend, possibly because the growth of crude prices has still not exceeded the growth of India's export prices.

* The exchange rate in 2018-19 has been more volatile than in the previous year, mainly due to volatility in crude prices, but not much due to net portfolio flows.

EXPORTS AND IMPORT BASKET IN 2018-19 (P)

* Exports including re-exports Rs 23,07,663 crore

* Imports of Rs 35,94,373 crore

* Top export items continue to be petroleum products, precious stones, drug formulations, gold and other precious metals

* Top import items continue to be crude petroleum, pearl, precious, semi-precious stones and gold.

* India's main trading partners continue to be the US, China, Hong Kong, the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

* India has signed 28 bilateral and multilateral trade agreements with various country/group of countries.

* In 2018-19, exports to these countries stood at US $ 121.7 billion accounting for 36.9 per cent of India's total exports

* Imports from these countries stood at US $ 266.9 billion accounting for 52.0 per cent of India's total imports.

INDUSTRY AND INFRASTRUCTURE

* Overall index of eight core industries registered a growth rate of 4.3 per cent in 2018-19.

* India's ranking improved by 23 to 77th position in 2018 among 190 countries assessed by the World Bank Doing Business (DB) Report, 2019.

* Road construction grew at 30 km per day in 2018-19 as compared to 12 km per day in 2014-15.

* Rail freight and passenger traffic grew by 5.33 per cent and 0.64 per cent respectively in 2018-19 as compared to 2017-18.

* Total telephone connections in India touched 118.34 crore in 2018-19

* The installed capacity of electricity has increased to 3, 56,100 MW in 2019 from 3, 44,002 MW in 2018.

SERVICES SECTOR

* Services sector, excluding construction, has a share of 54.3 per cent in India's GVA and contributed more than half of GVA growth in 2018-19.

* IT-BPM industry grew by 8.4 per cent in 2017-18 to US $ 167 billion and is estimated to reach US$ 181 billion in 2018-19.

* Services sector growth declined marginally to 7.5 per cent in 2018-19 from 8.1 per cent in 2017-18

* Accelerated sub-sectors: Financial services, real estate and professional services

* Decelerated sub-sectors: Hotels, transport, communication and broadcasting services

* Services share in employment is 34 per cent in 2017

TOURISM

* 10.6 million foreign tourists received in 2018-19 compared to 10.4 million in 2017-18

* Forex earnings from tourism stood at US$ 27.7 billion in 2018-19 compared to US$ 28.7 billion in 2017-18.