Indian Economy Amidst the Menace of COVID-19

Abstract

COVID-19 is an infectious disease caused by a newly discovered virus corona. The first time when World Health Organisation (WHO) came to recognize this deadly virus was the year of 2019. Therefore, it was the namedCOVID-19(Corona Virus Disease-2019). Most of people infected with the COVID-19 have mild to moderate respiratory symptoms, which can be treated without any special treatment. Due to its contagious and fast spreading
nature, WHO has declared COVID-19 a global epidemic? The virus is spreading rapidly with countless active transmission centers working across the world. The disease can consistently affect a large proportion of healthy people especially those in contact with infected people. Consequently, to contain this contagious disease and break the chain, lockdowns and curfews were introduced by different countries in their respective territories. Various norms such as to keep a reasonable social distance among individuals and wear masks to cover faces were strictly introduced to contain the spread of virus. Therefore, lockdown has affected economic activities all across the world and life of the public has come to a halt. Shops, factories, multinational companies, construction sites,
transportations, schools, colleges, universities etc., have remained shutting for almost six months. Even after relaxing lockdown norms, these businesses are striving to get that momentum they used to have before lockdown. Every sector of the economy, which contributes to Gross Domestic Product, has suffered a huge loss due tithe lockdown. The present paper will focus on Indian economy in the times of COVID-19. COVID-19 has inflicted drastic losses on the Indian economy as well. It is well known fact that even before the inception of corona virus; Indian economy was going through tough times. The quarterly based growth rate estimates of Indian economy were not satisfactory. But amid the corona virus induced lockdown, Indian economy has contracted by 23.9 percent in the first quarter of financial year 2021 and further forecasts are also alarming. Therefore, COVID-19 has ruthlessly damaged the Indian economy, which was already trying to recover from the losses ushered by Demonetization and Goods and Services Tax. The present study will be based on secondary data collected from various sources such as books, magazines, journals and newspapers. A detailed analysis will be prepared to measure the impact of COVID-19 on Indian economy. Impact of COVID-19 on various sectors, such as Agriculture, MSMEs, Tourism, Banking, Pharmaceutical industry and Educational sector, would be analyzed thoroughly. Further, some policy suggestions will be discussed which might be helpful to revive ailing economy.