Indian Economy: Planning, Resources, Growth, Development, Employment and Inclusive Growth · UPSC Civil Services

What the official syllabus says

Main Examination, Paper IV: General Studies III.

Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization of resources, growth, development and employment.
Inclusive growth and issues arising from it.

Topics in detail

Basic concepts

Growth and development: the difference, and why GDP growth alone does not measure welfare
National income aggregates: GDP, GNP, NDP, NNP; GVA at basic prices; nominal and real values; base year revision
Measures of development: Human Development Index, multidimensional poverty, Sustainable Development Goals
Sectoral composition of the Indian economy: agriculture, industry and services, and structural change since 1950
Inflation: measurement through the Consumer Price Index and Wholesale Price Index; causes (demand-pull, cost-push); effects on growth and the poor
Monetary policy: the Reserve Bank of India's tools, the Monetary Policy Committee and the flexible inflation-targeting framework

Planning

Planning in India: the Planning Commission (1950) and the Five-Year Plans, from the First Plan to the Twelfth Plan (2012-17)
Plan models and priorities: the Mahalanobis model of the Second Plan, the shift towards agriculture, poverty removal and liberalisation
NITI Aayog (from 1 January 2015): its role as a think tank, cooperative and competitive federalism, indices that rank states
Indicative versus imperative planning; decentralised planning through panchayats and municipalities
Assessment: achievements and shortcomings of planned development

Mobilisation of resources

Domestic savings and investment: household, corporate and public savings; the investment rate
Tax and non-tax revenue of the government; tax-to-GDP ratio; widening the tax base
The financial system: banks, non-banking financial companies, capital markets, insurance and pension funds
Financial inclusion: bank accounts, small finance and payments banks, microfinance, direct benefit transfer
Banking sector issues: non-performing assets, recapitalisation, the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016
External resources: foreign direct investment, foreign portfolio investment, external commercial borrowing, external debt
Balance of payments: current and capital accounts, foreign exchange reserves, exchange rate management

Growth, development and employment

Sources of growth: capital, labour, productivity and demographic dividend
Poverty: measurement in India, the committees that estimated poverty lines, and poverty reduction programmes
Employment: organised and unorganised sectors, formal and informal jobs, measurement through the Periodic Labour Force Survey
Types of unemployment: structural, disguised, seasonal, frictional and educated unemployment
Jobless growth, skill gaps and skill development; women's labour force participation
Rural wage employment guarantee: the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 and the programmes built on it; demand-driven work and creation of rural assets
Labour laws and their consolidation into four labour codes; social security for unorganised and gig workers

Inclusive growth

Meaning of inclusive growth: growth that spreads its benefits across regions, social groups and income classes
Dimensions of exclusion: regional imbalance, rural-urban divide, gender, caste, tribe, disability
Inequality of income and wealth; measures such as the Gini coefficient
Instruments of inclusion: financial inclusion, social sector spending on health and education, food security, housing, rural infrastructure
Issues arising from inclusive growth: subsidy burden, targeting errors, leakages, fiscal trade-offs, dependence on welfare transfers
Role of micro, small and medium enterprises and self-help groups in spreading growth

Overlaps

Poverty, welfare schemes and vulnerable sections are also in General Studies II; economic and social development is part of Prelims General Studies Paper I. Budgetary aspects are on the next page, Government Budgeting.