The Economic Survey will be tabled in Parliament today. A flagship annual document of the government, the Economic Survey reviews the developments in the Indian economy over the previous 12 months, summarizes the performance on major development programmes, and highlights the policy initiatives of the government and the prospects of the economy in the short to medium term.

The general budget will be presented in Parliament tomorrow. This will be the first budget of the Narendra Modi – led NDA government at the Centre.

Ahead of the Economic Survey, industry body FICCI has lowered the GDP growth forecast for the current fiscal. It pegged India's GDP growth at 5.3 percent compared to its 5.5 percent previous estimate. This is mainly due to bleak prospects for performance of the agriculture sector due to sub-par monsoon forecast.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told the Rajya Sabha yesterday that the fiscal deficit needs to be maintained at an acceptable level by expanding the economy and tax buoyancy rather than by cutting expenditure. Responding to supplementaries, Mr Jaitley said fiscal prudence is required because if the deficit rises it would mean borrowing more.