Survey: Cut red tape to fuel growth engine domestically

The Indian economy has to unlock its growth potential from within—with globalization no longer being able to provide a tailwind—that is the central message of the Economic Survey 2024-25, and its first suggestion in this direction is to streamline governing processes through deregulation at every level of governance and allow entrepreneurship to grow.

- Rajeev Jayaswal

NEW DELHI: The document termed this "getting out of the way".

It proposed deregulation to help micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) grow. "Deregulation is about removing the fear of growth in micro, medium and small enterprises. And this is about the plumbing nuts and bolts of deregulation which are primarily there in the state and local government space," chief economic adviser V Anantha Nageswaran said, explaining the difference between overall deregulation and Union government's ease of doing business initiatives.

The Economic Survey said deregulation will reinvigorate the internal engine of growth. "The global economy is now transitioning to a phase where the traditional, fundamental policy levers that were once effective may no longer be applicable or even relevant. Across the world, the focus of policymaking globally has shifted inwards. The promise of shared benefits from a globalised world with open trade, free flow of capital and technology, and sanctity for rules of the game may be behind us. It is as unwelcome and unfortunate as it is real," it said.