The Economic Survey brings out the economic trends in the country and facilitates a better appreciation of the mobilisation of resources and their allocation in the Union Budget. The Survey analyses the trends in agricultural and industrial production, infrastructure, employment, money supply, prices, imports, exports, foreign exchange reserves and other relevant economic factors that have a bearing on the Budget. It is presented in Parliament ahead of the Budget for the ensuing year.
The Budget of the central government is not merely a statement of receipts and expenditure. Since Independence, with the launch of Five-Year Plans, it became a significant statement of government policy. The Budget reflects and shapes, and is, in turn, shaped by the country's economy. For a better appreciation of the impact of government receipts and expenditure on the other sectors of the economy, it is necessary to group them in terms of economic magnitudes — for example, how much is set aside for capital formation, how much is spent directly by the government and how much is transferred by the government to other sectors of the economy by way of grants, loans, etc. This analysis is contained in the Economic and Functional Classification of the Central Government Budget, which is brought out by the Ministry of Finance separately.