INDIAN ECONOMY - ITS JOURNEY IN LOCKDOWN

 India is one of the most affected countries that was hit hard by the covid pandemic. The first lockdown was imposed in March which continued till May, however, the world was hit by another second wave with more number of cases. The situation was out of hand, where millions of people were dying per day, and the economic growth was shutting down.

 

The nation lockdown was further extended several times in order to take the pandemic under control; however, distinct mutants and variants have emerged which were considered as deadly and resulted in further restrictions. Offices and workplaces were shut, schools and colleges were closed and online education took over, production firms of every sector were forced to limit their working hours as well as labor. This had a significant impact on the nation's economy. Daily wage earners, big businesses, and their revenue streams were adversely affected.

 

In 2019, WHO (WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION) rang an alarm bell notice about the inability of the world to fight the deadly global pandemic. Some reports and census from WHO and the World Bank estimated the effects of covid at 2.2% to 4.8% of GDP globally. Manufacturing and service sectors, such as tourism, hospitality, travel, healthcare, banks, hotels, real estate, IT,. were adversely affected due to the pandemic, which resulted in less production thereby less profit and less GDP interest.

 

Industrial production in India was dropped sharply in April and factories were shut down, thus reducing the operation. This includes sectors such as mining, manufacturing, electricity where the consumer durables experience a sharp decline in their growth. The index was contracted by 55% as compared to a year earlier.

 

The ministry of statics and program implementation said "Consequently, it is not appropriate to compare the IIP of April 2020 with earlier months". Adding to this statement, they will undergo sector growth stats in the coming month.

 

TOURISM -

 

The tourism industry was also majorly affected during the crises even internationally. According to UNWTO (The world tourism organization), a fall of 25% was estimated in international tourist arrivals in 2020. These reports were completely based on the circumstances and can vary in the coming time. However, the tourism industry has lost millions of their employers, which contributes to the maximum size of India's economy. In India, the hotel and the tourism sector contributes majorly to India's GDP as India strongly believes in "ATITHI DEVO BHAVA" that is - guest is god.

 

AVIATION -

 

This sector contributes 72USD Billion to India's total GDP currently. During the initial phase of the lockdown, the arrival of international tourists was significantly down when compared to the past graph. There has been a 25% decline in the contribution of this sector which sums up to 19 billion. The railways even contributed USD28 billion in order to balance the GDP contribution.

MIGRANT LABOURERS -

 

According to the International Labour Organization, the pandemic was labeled as the "worst global crisis since world war 2". A total of 78% of the total working labor population were at risk of going into deep poverty which contributes to about 400 million people.

Due to this, there is going to be a loss of approx 190 million jobs (6.7% of working hours globally). The international labour organization said that many workers are paid low which is not sufficient for their family even for basic needs like food and water.

 

The pandemic has even affected fields such as  - startups, small retail stores, wholesale markets, migrant workers, education systems, marketing and business, cryptocurrency, and more. Each sector faced a major fallback in terms of customer engagement and income revenue, making workers quit their jobs, and more. Apart from industry-based breakdowns, mental health was at concern. With people spending all of their time at home, the situation was not so pleasant after a few months. Online education took over and students were facing issues such as lack of productivity, increased screen timing, body pain, etc.

 

With the outbreak of the pandemic, the industry faced a lot of issues in balancing India's economy but failed to reach the minimum value. As the situation is going down, firms are getting back on track and using innovative ways to increase their revenue generation and contribute more to India's GDP.