Swift recovery expected due to limited impact of lockdown on economy: Survey

India’s economy is expected to see a swift recovery from the impact of the second wave of Covid-19 as lockdowns were largely designed to limit social gatherings and did not affect economic activities much, a CII survey said.

About 60 per cent of CEOs participating in the survey expect that the recovery in sales of their companies would be better than that in the first wave of the pandemic.

“CII CEOs poll of 119 top corporates indicate swifter economic recovery from the impact of the second wave. The deadly second wave has not affected much of the economic activities as lockdowns were largely designed to limit social gathering and this has helped limit the impact of the second wave on economic growth when compared to the first wave,” CII Director General Chandrajit Banerjee said.

The survey added that vaccination holds the key to mitigating the impact of the second wave on economic activity and boosting consumer sentiment.

Over 60 per cent of the corporate leaders confirmed that their firms were compelled to scale back operations during the second wave, it added.

As per the survey, about 81 per cent of the respondents expected that the second wave in India would not have an adverse impact on the exports for their sectors in the first half of the current year than the comparable period of 2019-20. “The buoyant external demand is buttressed by large-scale global stimulus and the fast pace of vaccination coverage across key global economies,” it added.