The COVID-19 Pandemic brought havoc in the global economy. The only hope that the Indian economy and the other severely suffering economies have at present is the COVID-19 Vaccine availability. The year 2020 saw a major contraction in the GDP of India. According to some of the economists, India was said to be among one of those countries that suffered the major economic decline. There is no denial of how well the government tried to curb COVID-19 infections. But its impact on the economy is quite visible to date. From April 2020 to June 2020, India faced an economic contraction of around 23.9 percent. While from July 2020 till September 2020, the economy contracted by 7.5 percent. However, much more was predicted due to the ongoing recession.
Indian Government took some major steps also to rescue the small businesses which were drowning and were still suffering the impact of lockdown. But this did not push the economy any further as most of the businesses has collapsed or were on the verge of collapsing. Some industries had the immediate impact of the lockdown like the manufacturing and hospitality sectors. Trade, hotels, travel & tourism industry is still suffering the impact due to the restrictions and social distancing norms that led to less travel. Some of the changes in the tax and farm-related laws made the farm and manufacturing sector witness some positivity. After witnessing this growth in the farm and manufacturing sector in September, there were hopes that the Indian Economy may take a V-shape recovery after the distribution of the COVID-19 Vaccine.
Due to the decline in the rate of COVID 19 infections and positive cases, some relief can be cited. But expecting the economy to boost like the pre-covid times is still far. Even economists have also mentioned that it will take years for countries like India to go back to the economy of pre-covid times. But the good news is that COVID-19 vaccine trials have already started in India. So, this might bring the Indian economy out of the recession in the year 2021.
Two COVID vaccines are approved earlier this month. One is the AstraZeneca/Oxford Vaccine and the other one is Covaxin. As the vaccines have been rolled out, all the eyes are on India. However, economic growth is not completely dependent on the availability of the COVID Vaccine. It depends on the deployment of the same among the 1.3 billion people. It is going to be quite challenging for the government to make the vaccine reach out to every individual. The government has decided to make the vaccine available for health workers, police officers, front-line workers, military members, and elderly people first.
There is clearly a help as a result of the drop in the quantity of new cases. But the demand for vaccines from other countries is making it quite challenging at the same time. The demand for vaccines from countries like Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Brazil, South Africa, Myanmar, Morocco, and a few other countries has put India in a tough position. The covid vaccine has been sold to the Indian Government at 200 rupees. But in the private market, it will be made available at 1000 rupees. The massive COVID 19 vaccination distribution drive is already going on. By looking at the manufacturing unit, it cannot be said how soon the economy will recover.
But there is no doubt that the distribution of COVID 19 Vaccine at major places and its deployment by the private hospitals will surely help most of the industries get relief. Like, if every shop owner or multiplex worker, or owner gets themselves vaccinated, their productivity will see growth. The same applies to small industries and businesses as well. However, how successful this COVID 19 Vaccine will be for the Indian economy, it can be rightly said after a few months only.
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