Team of Scientists Begin Work on Ways to Revive Indian economy After Covid

A team of Indian scientists associated with an autonomous technology think tank under the department of Science and Technology is busy preparing a white paper charting the course for the revival of Indian economy after the coronavirus pandemic gets over, says a Tuesday release from government of India’s press information bureau department.

The while paper aimed to strategise on the revival of post-Covid 19 Indian economy will be prepared by the experts of The Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC) “by virtue of its mandate of thinking for future,” says the government release.

The white paper focuses on Make in India initiatives, the commercialisation of indigenous technology and reduction of imports in a post-coronavirus India.

“This document would mainly focus on strengthening Make in India initiatives, commercialization of Indigenous technology, developing a technology-driven transparent Public Distribution System (PDS), efficient rural health care delivery, reduction of import, adoption of emerging technology domains like AI, Machine Learning, Data Analytics and many more,” says the document.

The white paper will soon be ready for submission to the decision-making authorities of the Government.

Indian economy, like the rest of the world, is suffering due to the outbreak of the pandemic which is said to be the trigger for the worst recession seen since the great depression during the 1930s.

India’s economic growth forecast has been cut down drastically by the IMF for the current fiscal at 1.9%, however, it predicts a robust revival in the economy by the next fiscal.

The government has already begun relaxing the strict lockdown restrictions for a gradual resumption of some commercial activity—mainly in the rural sector and farming—which potentially allows for the resumption of 60% of the economy, says Nomura Holdings Inc. However, the output for the year started April 1 is likely to shrink by 0.4% compared with the growth of 4.6% the previous year. There are also concerns over labour shortages that could last for as long as six months and loss of jobs that could extend to 40 million before the end of the year, says a livemint report.

Almost all sectors including manufacturing, trade, transport, tourism, education, healthcare have been hit and the government feels that the virus containment strategy also has a big role to play on the overall economic impact on the economy.

The government has announced a fiscal relief package worth 1.7 lakh for individuals and businesses and the RBI has also undertaken steep rate cuts to ease the liquidity pressure on lenders and borrowers. The finance minister has promised to do more in the coming days while allowing the non-banking financial companies, housing finance companies, and microfinance institutions to function from April 20.

Source: HT