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Economic recovery resilient despite surging Covid:Report
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SME Times News Bureau | 05 Apr, 2021
As the country witnesses a rapid resurgence of coronavirus cases, a
Finance Ministry report has exuded confidence in the Indian economy and
termed the economic recovery as resilient citing improvement in high
frequency indicators.
The Monthly Economic Review for March 2021
released by the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) said that the
agricultural sector remains the bright spot of Indian economy with
foodgrains production touching 303.3 million tonnes in 2020-21 beating
record production levels for the fifth consecutive year in a row.
Further,
MGNREGS has acted as a strong pillar to insulate the rural economy by
generating all-time high employment of 383.8 crore person days during
2020-21, 44.7 per cent higher compared to previous year.
"Despite
the surge in cases, the recovery in economy is resilient with sustained
improvement in the majority of high frequency indicators," it said.
The
report noted that India's PMI Manufacturing Index of 55.4 in March
indicated some loss of momentum compared to February. However,
manufacturing sector conditions continue to improve sharply, outpacing
the long-run series average with firms scaling up production and
witnessing upturn in sales.
Further, strengthening in demand
conditions could be clearly seen in auto sales and power consumption.
Monthly GST collections attained all-time record levels in March, since
its inception.
The report highlighted the second wave of Covid-19 infection in India with the rise in daily new cases since mid of February.
The
department, however, is of the view that India has been able to delay
the onset of the second wave as the gap between the first peak to start
of second wave has been 151 days in India while it was much lower in
other countries.
"At this juncture of onset of the second wave,
India is well prepared to combat the scourge of the virus. It is
well-equipped with adequate testing and health infrastructure and
economic activity has adapted to the pandemic."
Concerns, however, have been growing with the surging number of cases.
India
registered over 1.03 lakh new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours,
the highest ever single-day spike since the onset of the pandemic last
year, taking the total tally to 1,25,89,067 on Monday.
Fears of
local restrictions and lockdowns too have grown which may impact
business and economic activities. Maharashtra, already has announced
night curfew and weekend lockdown.
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Customs Exchange Rates |
Currency |
Import |
Export |
US Dollar
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66.20
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64.50 |
UK Pound
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87.50
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84.65 |
Euro
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78.25
|
75.65 |
Japanese
Yen |
58.85 |
56.85 |
As on 13 Aug, 2022 |
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