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Economics is an important subject for both UPSC CSE Prelims and Main examinations. Indian and world economy-related questions are also asked during the UPSC Interview. Therefore, candidates who are preparing for IAS exams should be well-aware of key economic events that take place in India and the world.
UPSC aspirants can refer to various newspapers, books and magazines to prepare for economics. Candidates can refer to NCERT textbooks to learn the basics of economics, i.e., microeconomics, macroeconomics and the Indian economy, from newspapers and Yojana magazine for important government schemes and programmes etc. A list of important resources for UPSC CSE Prelims is given in the following section.
Important Economics Books and Other Resources for UPSC Preliminary Examination
In order to prepare for economics/the Indian economy, candidates should first go through the NCERT textbooks and understand the basic concepts that are important for UPSC CSE. After going through the economics NCERT textbooks, candidates can study other advanced economics textbooks. A list of books, newspapers and magazines that are important to prepare for CSE Indian economy/economics (prelims) are given in the tables below.
List of Important Newspapers and Magazines
| Economic and Political Weekly (EPW) | The Hindu | Yojana |
| Down To Earth Magazine | The Indian Express | Frontline |
| BusinessLine (for economy-related news) | Economic Times (for the economy and business-related news) | Kurukshetra |
List of Important Economics Books for UPSC Preliminary Exam
| S.No. | Name of Books |
| 1 | Macroeconomics – NCERT Class XII |
| 2 | Indian Economic Development – NCERT Class XI |
| 3 | Economic Survey (Selective reading from Prelims perspective) |
| 4. | Indian Economy by Ramesh Singh
OR Indian Economy by Nitin Singhania OR Indian Economy Key Concepts by Sankarganesh K OR The Indian Economy by Sanjiv Verma OR Datt and Sundaram’s Indian Economy |
Important economics topics for UPSC preliminary exam
Economics is very vast, and IAS aspirants should know what is important for UPSC Prelims. A list of important Economics topics for the UPSC Preliminary exam is given below.
| Depression | Unemployment and its types | Rate of interest |
| Recession | Investment | Money and capital |
| Capitalist economy | Exports and imports | Multiplier and its mechanism |
| National income and various methods to calculate national income (expenditure, income and product method) | Gross National Product | Gross Domestic Product (GDP)- Nominal and real GDP, Green GDP |
| GDP deflator | Budget deficit | Inflation, Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Wholesale Price Index (WPI) |
| Depreciation | Transfer payments | Base year |
| Externalities | National Disposable Income | Demand for money and supply of money |
| Narrow and broad money | Money creation by the banking system | Commercial banks |
| Monetary base or high powered money | Reserve Bank of India | Monetary policy: Open Market Operations (OMO), SLR, CRR, repo and reverse repo rate, bank rate |
| Securities and Exchange Board of India | Sterilisation by RBI | Bonds |
| Deficit financing | Liquidity trap | Aggregate demand and aggregate supply |
| Private and public goods | Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act | Union budget: Revenue account and capital account |
| Revenue deficit, fiscal deficit and primary deficit | Fiscal policy | GST |
| Public debt | Public expenditure | Taxation:Indirect and direct tax |
| Closed and open economy | Balance of Payments (BoP): Current account, capital account, BoP surplus and deficit | Money market |
| Foreign exchange market | Nominal and real exchange rate | Purchasing power parity (PPP) |
| Nominal Effective Exchange Rate (NEER) and Real Effective Exchange Rate (REER) | Flexible and fixed exchange rate, managed floating, speculation etc. | Appreciation, depreciation, revaluation and devaluation of exchange rate |
| Agriculture | Economic growth and development, inclusive growth | Financial markets |
| Poverty, poverty line, poverty estimation in India and methodology, and Multidimensional Poverty Index | Inequality, Gini coefficient, Lorenz curve | Niti Aayog |
| Finance Commission | 5 year plans | Human Development Index |
| Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) | Types of Inflation: Demand-pull and cost-push inflation, stagflation, hyperinflation, deflation and disinflation | Non-banking financial companies in India |
| Government schemes in India (Lead Bank Scheme ) | Land reforms in India | Payment banks and small banks |
| Minimum Support Price | National Food Security Act | World Bank and IMF
ADB, BRICS Bank, AIIB |
| World Trade Organisation (WTO) and India | Industrial policy in India | Foreign policy |
| Privatisation in India | Infrastructure sector in India | Nationalisation in India |
| Cooperative banks | Regional rural banks | Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) |
| Disinvestment | Microfinance | Foreign Institutional Investor (FII) |
| Index of Industrial Production | Participatory notes | Priority sector lending by banks in India |
| Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) | National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development | Marginal Standing Facility Rate |
| Plan and non-plan expenditure | Demographic dividend | Business correspondent (Bank Saathi) |
Candidates can refer to the aforementioned list of important topics to prepare for economics. Aspirants who plan to appear in the upcoming civil service examinations should go through the previous years’ question papers before the Prelims and Main exam. Previous years’ question papers will help candidates in understanding the exam pattern and important areas.
Economics is a scoring subject if candidates are able to understand the basics of the subject. NCERT textbooks are one of the best resources to build a foundation in economics. Therefore, start your UPSC CSE preparation with NCERT textbooks and then move to other advanced study material and books.
