The central bank worryingly suggested that if the second wave is not contained in the coming months “losses in terms of lives, employment and output are likely to be adverse and long lasting”.
“Rural markets started showing signs of weakness from the second fortnight of April,” said Shashank Srivastava, senior executive director, Maruti Suzuki. “As for car purchase, sentiment plays a disproportionate role.”
“For the first time in as many years, we don’t have visibility on what is going to happen and, hence, near-term expectations are tepid,” Jagdishan said at an investor call hosted by brokerage house Macquarie Capital.
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NEW DELHI: India s annual budget in February was lauded by many and raised hopes it would drive a sharp economic revival, but there are now fears that its promise may fall flat as it did not account for a crippling second wave of Covid-19 infections. The budget aimed to revive Asia s third-largest economy via investing in infrastructure and health care, while relying on an aggressive privatisation strategy and robust tax collections - on the back of projected growth of 10.5 per cent - to fund its spending in the fiscal year. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said India would not see such a budget in 100 years . At the time, a massive Covid-19 vaccination drive and a rebound in consumer demand and investments had put the economy on track to recover from its deepest recorded slump.
Synopsis
Across sectors, there is hope of a recovery in FY22 after June on the back of a good monsoon, waning infections and a boost from pent-up demand. For April-June, most businesses say forecasts are tough to make. ET spoke to industry executives, industry associations and data analysts for this report.
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April-June 2021 seems much like, or even worse than, April-June 2020. However, businesses across sectors are hopeful a waning of the second Covid-19 wave and therefore, greater mobility, speeded up vaccination, another burst of pent-up demand and a good monsoon will mean brisk sales over the rest of FY22. Recovery will be uneven across sectors, just as the extent of demand dip has been since the second wave hit India. For April-June, most businesses say forecasts are tough to make. ET spoke to industry executives, industry associations and data analysts for this report.