Economy: Despite Covid-19 surge, improvement on, says RBI chief
New Delhi: Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das, on Thursday, said the revival of India’s economic activity is expected to be “unabated”, and growth projections for fiscal 2021-22 are unlikely to be cut despite a recent resurgence in Covid-19 infections in some states.
Addressing an economists’ meeting in the national capital, the central bank chief said although the pandemic’s fresh surge is a matter of concern, vaccines have also become available, lockdowns are short and less stringent and India’s preparations are better than in 2020 when the pandemic struck.
“Our preliminary analysis shows that the growth rate next year, at 10.5%, which we had given, would not require a downward revision,” Das pointed out.
In the last few weeks, the pandemic has begun to surge again. Across the country, 53,476 infections were reported on Wednesday, in its highest daily rise since October 23, 2020, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
Overall, India’s tally of 11.8 million infections ranks the country the third worldwide, after Brazil and the United States.
(VP)