NEW DELHI: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tabled the Economic Survey 2024-25 in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
The survey, prepared by the Economic Division of the Department of Economic Affairs in the Ministry of Finance and formulated under the supervision of the chief economic adviser, provides an official assessment of the performance of the economy in the ongoing financial year.
As per the survey, about 1.38 lakh real estate projects and 95,987 real estate agents have been registered under the Real Estate Regulatory Authority as of January 6, 2025 across India. About 1.38 lakh complaints have been disposed of by the RERA across the country.
As of November 25, 2024, a total of 1.18 crore houses have been sanctioned, with 1.14 crore grounded and over 89 lakh completed. Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana – Urban (PMAY-U) 2.0 was launched in September 2024 to assist an additional one crore households. Currently, 29 states and union territories have signed agreements to implement PMAY-U 2.0, with approval having been granted for six lakh houses in FY25.
About 2.69 crore houses completed since 2016 under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G). The
scheme has been extended to construct an additional two crore rural houses over the next five years, i.e. till 2029.
Insolvency and Backruptcy Code
Till September 2024, 1,068 resolution plans approved under the Code have resulted in creditors realising Rs 3.6 lakh crore, 161 per cent against liquidation value and 86.1 per cent of the fair value (based on 964 cases where fair value has been estimated). The haircut for creditors relative to the fair value of assets was around 14 per cent, while relative to their admitted claims, it was around 69 per cent.
Further, until September 2024, 79 corporate debtors (CDs) were closed by sale as a going concern under liquidation. These 79 CDs had claims amounting to Rs 1.4 lakh crore, as against the liquidation value of Rs 4,678.2 crore. The liquidators in these cases realised Rs 3,674.1 crore.
Resolutions under the code have spanned across all sectors, from large steel manufacturing companies and real estate projects to small FMCG companies.
Simplifying governance
The union government has undertaken deregulation by implementing process and governance reforms, simplifying taxation laws, rationalising labour regulations, and decriminalising business laws. States have also tried to reduce the cost of regulations by engaging with businesses to identify pain points. For example, Haryana and Tamil Nadu amended their building regulations 12 times in the past decade to make it easier to build. Similarly, Punjab conducted grievance redressal sessions with industries and liberalised several building, labour, and fire regulations.
In sum, the faster economic growth that India needs is only possible if the union and state governments continue to implement reforms that allow small and medium enterprises to operate efficiently and compete cost-effectively. Regulations must be rationalised to ensure that the regulation is the minimum necessary to achieve its objectives and the maximum feasible given the limited managerial and other resources
at the disposal of small and medium enterprises.
India-second largest cement producer in the world
Currently, India is the second largest cement producer in the world after China. The Indian cement industry comprises 159 integrated large cement plants, 128 grinding units, five clinkerization units and 62 mini cement plants. The current annual installed capacity of the cement industry is about 639 million tonnes, with cement production of around 427 million tonnes in FY24.
Most of the cement plants in India are located in proximity to the raw material source. About 87 per cent of the cement industry is concentrated in the States of Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka,
Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Meghalaya and West Bengal.
The industry has adequate capacity to meet the domestic cement demand. Domestic cement consumption is around 290 kg per capita against a global average of 540 kilograms per capita. The government’s focus on mega projects like highways, railways, and housing schemes, coupled with rural development and industrial growth, is expected to fuel significant cement demand.
The cement industry carries an environmental footprint. The industry has been actively working to reduce its carbon emissions of cement by 2070.
Economy and GDP
The Indian economy grew by 5.4 per cent in real terms in the July-September quarter of the current financial year 2024-25. The quarterly growth was quite lower than RBI’s forecast of 7 per cent. India’s GDP grew by 8.2 per cent during the financial year 2023-24.
India’s foreign exchange reserves stood at USD 640.3 billion as of the end of December 2024, sufficient to cover approximately 90 per cent of the country’s external debt of USD 711.8 billion as of September 2024, reflecting a strong buffer against external vulnerabilities.
