View: With lockdown\, a shrinking GDP was no surprise. A V-shaped recovery is as obvious

By Bibek DebroyReal (constant prices) GDP declined by 23.9% in Q1(April-June) of 2020-21, compared to growth of 5.2% in Q1of 2019-20. From March 25 to May 31, India was in various phases of lockdown, and ‘Unlock 1.0’ (throughout June) involved limited opening. Measuringstringency of a lockdown is difficult, especially if it is cross-country. Oxford Government Response Tracker tried this and devised a stringency index, with a maximum value of 100