NEW DELHI: The Finance Ministry on Monday said that the government is well prepared to handle the second wave of Covid-19 infections and assured that the economic recovery remains resilient.
“Despite the surge in cases, the recovery in economy is resilient with sustained improvement in the majority of high frequency indicators,” the ministry said in its Monthly Economic Review for March 2021, which was released by the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) on Monday. The report, while accepting the dangers posed by the second wave, reaffirmed that the Centre was well prepared to tackle it without damage to economy.
“As the vaccination drive continuously upscales in India and guided by the learnings of India’s successful management of pandemic during its first wave, India is well armed to combat any downside risk posed by the recent surge in Covid-19 cases,” the report said. India has been witnessing a resurgence in infections over the past few weeks, with the country reporting 1,03,558 cases in just the 24 hours leading up to Monday morning.
The report did not rule out some concerns over inflation, however: “The outlook for core inflation is likely to be impacted by further easing in supply chains; however, broad-based escalation in cost-push pressures in services and manufacturing prices due to increase in industrial raw material prices could impart upward pressure”.
However, the general optimism in the report is not shared by all amid increasing cases and fears of another lockdown which may impact business and economic activities. According to Care Ratings, stricter norms in Maharashtra would lead to a dip in gross value added growth by 0.32 per cent in FY 2021-22.