Read more about Second wave of Covid-19: India s fuel demand slips to nine-month low in May on Business Standard. India was under one of the world s strictest lockdowns in May last year, which brought all mobility and economic activity to a grinding halt.
Fuel price rise in the country went for a longer pause as oil marketing companies (OMCs) kept the pump rate of petrol and diesel unchanged for the second consecutive day on Thursday. Accordingly, the pump prices of petrol and diesel remained at Rs 94.49 and Rs 85.38 per litre respectively in Delhi on Thursday. In the city of Mumbai, where petrol prices crossed the Rs 100 per litre mark for the first time ever on Saturday (May 29), the fuel price remains at new high of Rs 100.72 per litre. Diesel price also continues to be at Rs 92.69 a litre, the highest among metros. Across the country as well petrol and diesel prices remained static on Thursday but the retail prices varied depending on the level of local taxes in different states.
Read more about Slackening economic momentum to limit discretionary purchases: ICRA on Business Standard. In addition, contact-intensive services can expect cutback in spending, said Chief Economist Aditi Nayar
Sequential growth slackening driven by the second wave of Covid-19 in India has emerged as a concern, ratings agency ICRA said.
ICRA also cautioned that bruised sentiment, high healthcare and fuel expenses will limit discretionary purchases in the immediate term. Furthermore, the agency expects a cut-back in spending on contact-intensive services. As expected, the shrunken base of the nationwide lockdown in April 2020 has boosted the pace of year-on-year (YoY) expansion of several high-frequency indicators in April 2021, resulting in a widespread improvement compared to the performance in March 2021, ICRA Chief Economist Aditi Nayar said. However, the optimism generated by this trend is limited, as eight of the 13 non-financial indicators in April 2021 remained below their pre-Covid levels.