India's economy starts recovering at gradual pace: Montek Singh Ahluwalia

25 Jan 2021 Evaluate

Former deputy chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia said the country's economy, which contracted in the first two quarters of the current fiscal, has started recovering at a gradual pace. The economy contracted by a massive 23.9 per cent in the first quarter and 7.5 per cent in the second quarter on account of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ahluwalia said ‘we had jumped off a cliff in the first quarter of this financial year because of the lockdown, which was necessitated by the pandemic. The economy is now climbing back. I think it's a gradual recovery but it is a clear recovery.’ Ahluwalia said the manufacturing sector is recovering and has got back to where it was in 2019-20. However, he said the contact industries which include hotels, restaurants, travel, tourism and retail shopping in malls are badly hit and will take some time to return to normalcy.

Further, he said the infrastructure in the country still lags behind and there is an urgent need to increase investment in the sector over the next few quarters. Besides, he said ‘there's no doubt whatsoever for the medium term that the revival of investment in infrastructure is absolutely crucial. Our infrastructure is not up to the mark.’

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