Coronavirus has affected every small phase of our lives. It has been a nuisance to every human, thing, and livelihood in general. It put the entire system at a standstill and made us all weak, somehow or the other. All of this includes one point that connects all of our lives: the effect of Covid-19 on Indian economy.
List of areas that faced the impact of covid-19:
- Food & Agriculture
- Tourism
- Restaurants
- Raw materials & Electronic parts
- Pharmaceuticals
- Textile Industry
This pandemic not only brought huge life-altering changes to people’s lives, but it also affected all organizations, institutions, firms, big or small. It rendered some of the brightest minds helpless with worry. In fact, even economists could not figure out answers to some of the problems.
As coronavirus daily cases pile up day by day, the new covid strain brings us to another halt in our lives in the form of lockdown. Before the whole world becomes silent again, let us know about the inner scream that is happening inside all of us, from a simple farmer to the CEO of the top companies.
FOOD & AGRICULTURE:
Agriculture is the backbone of our country and we all know we won’t survive without food. The first wave saw a great hit to these and the impact of Covid-19 on Indian economy took a greater dive.
However, the second wave has arrived, but those areas have confirmed to be more flexible than before. This is mostly because all the online portals are open and need to be supplied with products since a huge percentage of the population has shifted to online shopping. Also, certain state governments have permitted free passage of products in the food industry so that rural India does not take a hit like before.
According to the RBI, this year’s crop production has also been better, thus working in our favour and saving us in the face of coronavirus.
TOURISM:
Probably the worst hit was received by the tourism industry, when all travel, be it within the country or internationally, stopped totally. The places of main interest, like Odisha, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Meghalaya, suffered a lot in this aspect because of the virus.
The financial losses due to Covid-19 on Indian economy are probably more than those in 2008 and 9/11, as well.
The same goes for the aviation sector, which lost its loyal passengers due to the coronavirus. The layoffs are in millions and the losses are counted in billions. The whole industry came crashing down in the first part of the first wave only and it is staring at further losses in the second one.
RESTAURANTS:
The restaurants too saw a clear drop in their finances since the first wave. As coronavirus set in and lockdown came rushing soon after, the restaurants and food chains had to be closed for an indefinite period. This counted all the pubs, dine-ins, walk-ins, takeaway chains, and even the VIP chains of restaurants.
As a result, there was a significant drop in delivery services as people started avoiding outside food.
The online food delivery platforms experienced a drop of about 60% in their revenue. The new covid strain has not brought in any better news, these industries keep suffering the wrath of the double mutant virus. This also is included under the effects of covid-19 on Indian economy.
RAW MATERIALS & ELECTRONIC PARTS:
Most of the raw materials and electronic parts that are available in India are shipped from China. Since the origin of coronavirus in Wuhan, all shipping and import of electronic parts as well as raw materials from the country has been stopped by the Government. Several apps have also been banned and the policy of Atmanirbhar was idolized. Hence, the raw materials market took a big hit.
Demand had also gone down, and supply went out of the window, too. Almost 50% of the supply has gone down and the Indian economy has been enduring this day after day.
PHARMACEUTICALS:
The pharma sector has actually been rising since coronavirus welcomed itself into our country. They had been supplying generic drugs and hydroxychloroquine to several parts of the country, and even these were getting exported to the US, UK.
Out of the variants of the coronavirus, the second one was a tad different from the first. This was a double mutant and this time even pharmaceuticals fell short of finding out the proper doses of medicines. Vaccination is the only antidote visible now.
So, along with the rise, the pharma sector also got a hit when there were bans induced on certain drug usage, import-export policies. Recession due to Covid-19 on Indian economy is quite prevalent in this sector. As for now, the demand is high, but there is no supply of medicines, there is a shortage of PPE kits and the list continues.
TEXTILE INDUSTRY:
We all love shopping, but really, how many of us have enjoyed picking out an outfit online? It’s not the same thing, is it? Well, that’s just one little change brought in by the coronavirus that we have noticed.
Behind the scenes, the textile industry has fallen prey to the apocalyptic effects of the old and new covid strain and has stopped functioning in a lot of ways. Again, in this field, China used to be one of our main suppliers, but import policies have put a halt to that scenario.
There has been a reduction of labour, work power, and needless to say, unavailability of raw materials. Not only cotton but also other fabrics and yarn from India have suffered losses. This is another down-take that we can put in record results by covid-19 on Indian economy.
However, we must all remember that even after all of this, the country is trying its best to devise out new strategies and come up with new plans to benefit all of us.
Another good news, economists have said that the economic downfall during the second wave will not be as deadly as the first one. We are better prepared, and also there is better equipment at hand now.
There have been effects, not only by Covid-19 on Indian economy but also in other facets of our lives, and everyone is trying their best to recover. The impact of covid 19 on mental health is evidently severe. With a little bit of positivity and willpower, we will all win this war against coronavirus and see a better sunrise.