Economic Impact Of Covid-19 On India’s Younger Generation And The Way Out

India is the world’s youngest country with 64% of its population in the working age group. This demographic asset provides an immense opportunity for a developing nation and the economists believe that it will give a significant advantage with potential of adding up to 2% to the GDP growth rate.

However, under the current circumstances of Covid-19, the economic growth has come to a standstill leading to job losses and lack of opportunities due to business trimming down. It is expected that the slowdown in growth will take a few quarters to recover and the youth would need to realign their lifestyle and pursuit of opportunities.

The period requires the youth to develop financial awareness and literacy such as keeping track of their income and expenses, making a note of future expenses and sources of income. Having a budget, reviewing spending and practices such as comparing prices of products online will lead to continuous savings which will make them financially secure. As is said, arupee saved is a rupee earned.

Additionally, allocation of savings into conservative investment avenues should be considered to ensure growth during this period. The power of the compounding helps investments reap higher returns. Hence some investments with longer time horizon have to be earmarked and allocated. Such investments are moderately risky, but over a period of time counter inflation. This type of investing requires proper guidance and right advice by a professional.

As it can be witnessed, those countries with significant reliance on debt are suffering the most during this period, thus it is something that youth requires to be more aware of since purchasing EMIs on home and vehicle loans have been significantly rising in the last few years.

The concepts of financial management are often only studied by students to a limited degree, however, during this period of lockdown they can get a real time experience in this field.The other parallel would be regarding the importance of being updated with the latest technologies as the world witnesses a significant technological shift in short period. Understanding how the digital platform functions and adapting to it will be crucial as right from education, work, administrative tasks, maintaining groceries and socializing will be done on these platforms. Hence a fine line has to be drawn between work, play and entertainment.

Focus on self-learning via online portals during this period will give an edge to those who will be seeking out for jobs in the next phases of hiring. Currently, businesses are downsizing, cost cutting and firing employees. Sooner with credit offtake, businesses would rally and would look for those who can independently operate and manage efficiently.

Students should also revaluate their career paths and incorporate the ones that would be more relevant considering the crisis in a few years to come. In times of dynamic business environments there will be lot of changes in supply chain management, consumer spending patterns, technological upgradations, business transitions to flexible set ups, cyber security etc. So, let the prudence take over.