Coronavirus: Economic slowdown leaves India's aspiring middle class in limbo
4 years, 4 months ago

Coronavirus: Economic slowdown leaves India's aspiring middle class in limbo

India Today  

When the novel coronavirus first emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan last year, little did Indians imagine that the virus would hurt them so bad. Middle class incomes worst hit Key data sets on demand, employment and household incomes show how badly the virus-induced slowdown impacted India's middle class. The lower income levels of India’s middle class have severely impacted cash flow into the informal sector, leaving demand in doldrums. “Loss of these urban salaried jobs is therefore likely to have a particularly debilitating impact on the economy besides causing immediate hardship to middle class households,” CMIE said. Middle class key to India’s economic recovery The middle income group in India is one of the largest source employment and cash flow for economically weaker sections, making them an integral part of India’s recovery.

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History of this topic

India's middle class tightens its belt, squeezed by food inflation
1 month, 1 week ago

India's middle class tightens its belt, squeezed by food inflation

Deccan Chronicle  

CHENNAI/NEW DELHI: India's city dwellers are cutting spending on everything from cookies to fast food as persistently high inflation squeezes middle class budgets, threatening the country's brisk economic growth. They are considered a key demographic both economically and politically, with middle class frustration seen as a significant factor behind Prime Minister Narendra Modi's weaker election performance this year.Asia's third-largest economy …

Anant Ambani’s glitzy wedding highlights India’s ‘missing middle class’
5 months ago

Anant Ambani’s glitzy wedding highlights India’s ‘missing middle class’

Al Jazeera  

India’s middle class is much poorer than China’s after decades of strong growth despite starting at a similar base. Compared with fellow rising economy China, India’s consumers have far less spending power, with the country’s middle class heavily concentrated at the lower end of the income spectrum, according to a report released by Oxford Economics in May. “One of the …

Year Ender 2023: Financial Health Check, How Indian Middle Class Redefined Spending
1 year ago

Year Ender 2023: Financial Health Check, How Indian Middle Class Redefined Spending

News 18  

As 2023 draws to a close, it’s a good time to assess the financial health of India’s middle class, a critical segment driving the country’s economy. S. Ravi, former BSE chairman and promoter and managing partner, Ravi Rajan & Co., underlined various aspects of the lives of the Indian middle class and how they redefined finance this year. The financial …

India’s post-pandemic potential growth could be pushed higher
1 year, 8 months ago

India’s post-pandemic potential growth could be pushed higher

Live Mint  

Three years have now passed since the pandemic brought the world to a standstill. The World Bank has this week released a large database with estimates of potential growth over the years for various countries. First, the World Bank estimates Indian potential growth at 7% a year. Second, Indian potential growth is higher than that of most emerging economies it …

How Reserve Bank of India Gets Trumped By ‘Irrational’ Choices of Middle Class
2 years ago

How Reserve Bank of India Gets Trumped By ‘Irrational’ Choices of Middle Class

The Quint  

From manufacturing slowdown—which is now beginning to improve—and exchange rate disparity to an imperfect-rational middle class, there are many issues that ail the Reserve Bank of India’s monetary policy framework but for the paucity of space, let us analyse one: The middle class. The liberalisation-privatisation-globalisation-LPG policy in the 1990s led to the creation of an entirely new economic middle class …

DC Edit | Make middle class growth engine in coming Budget
2 years ago

DC Edit | Make middle class growth engine in coming Budget

Deccan Chronicle  

Discussions on what should be in the next Union Budget are now taking place between policymakers, finance ministry officials, economists, experts and several interest groups, ranging from industry bodies to those in specific domains. The middle classes are not seen as too crucial and are all but forgotten except when it comes to two aspects — changes in income-tax slabs …

Joblessness below pre-COVID levels: Finance Ministry
2 years, 3 months ago

Joblessness below pre-COVID levels: Finance Ministry

The Hindu  

Demand for work under the national rural employment guarantee scheme hit a two-year low in August, signalling that the recovering economy is creating more jobs in rural as well as urban India, the Union Finance Ministry said on Saturday. India’s inflation, the Ministry said, is “in control” and expected to moderate in coming months from the 7% mark in August …

Economy may take more than a decade to overcome COVID-19 losses: RBI report
2 years, 7 months ago

Economy may take more than a decade to overcome COVID-19 losses: RBI report

The Hindu  

The Indian economy may take more than a decade to overcome the losses caused by the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, according to Reserve Bank of India’s Report on Currency and Finance. Taking actual growth rate of 6.6% for 2020-21, 8.9% for 2021-22 and assuming growth rate of 7.2% for 2022-23 and 7.5% beyond that, India is expected to overcome COVID-19 …

Explained: Is India's economy gaining immunity against Covid-19?
3 years, 3 months ago

Explained: Is India's economy gaining immunity against Covid-19?

India Today  

India’s economy is on track to rebound sharply after two waves of the Covid-19 pandemic dampened growth during all four quarters of FY21. A majority of financial analysts predict GDP growth at 18-20 per cent in the June quarter and remain optimistic about economic recovery in upcoming quarters as the second wave fades and more Indians get vaccinated against the …

State of working India 2021: The pandemic’s impact on the economy in India
3 years, 5 months ago

State of working India 2021: The pandemic’s impact on the economy in India

Hindustan Times  

This report documents the impact of one year of Covid-19 in India, on jobs, incomes, inequality, and poverty. On top of this, there were legacy problems such as a slow rate of job creation and lack of political commitment to improving working conditions which trapped a large section of the workforce without access to any employment security or social protection. …

Indian economy, hit by COVID-19, shrinks by 7.3% in 2020-21
3 years, 6 months ago

Indian economy, hit by COVID-19, shrinks by 7.3% in 2020-21

Associated Press  

NEW DELHI — India’s economy, pummeled by the coronavirus pandemic, contracted by 7.3% in the 2020-21 financial year, just before the country was hit by another catastrophic surge in infections. Daily new cases set global records, spurring many states to announce widespread restrictions and lockdowns. In January, a government survey estimated the economy -- previously one of the fastest growing …

Indian economy's ability to rebound on test amid threats from second wave
3 years, 6 months ago

Indian economy's ability to rebound on test amid threats from second wave

Hindustan Times  

The Indian economy’s resilience will be tested by its ability to overcome a devastating outbreak of Covid-19, although no one’s yet doubting its potential to pull off the world’s fastest pace of growth among major economies this year. Data due later Monday will probably show gross domestic product grew 1% in the three months ended March, making it the second …

The economic crisis is real; the picture of economic resilience is an illusion
3 years, 6 months ago

The economic crisis is real; the picture of economic resilience is an illusion

The Hindu  

As the ongoing second wave of coronavirus infections in India peaks, there is little clarity on what its economic fallout is and will be. Two assessments from official sources—one from the Reserve Bank of India, titled The State of the Economy and the other from the Ministry of Finance, titled Month Economic Report for May—seem to suggest that economic trends …

Rural demand to remain muted due to Covid-19: Ind-Ra
3 years, 6 months ago

Rural demand to remain muted due to Covid-19: Ind-Ra

Hindustan Times  

The economic impact of the second Covid wave will be felt more through loss of demand impulse in rural India than in urban India, even though the India Meteorological Department has forecast a near-normal monsoon, India Ratings and Research said on Thursday. “While demand for agricultural credit and inputs such as fertilizers and pesticides could remain strong in view of …

India’s economic report card is drenched in red ink
3 years, 6 months ago

India’s economic report card is drenched in red ink

Live Mint  

India’s nascent economic recovery has been derailed by the second covid-19 wave even before it could gather steam. Launched in October 2018, Mint’s macro tracker provides a monthly state-of-the-economy report based on trends in 16 high-frequency indicators across four segments: consumer economy, producer economy, external sector, and ease of living. A year ago, during the first nationwide lockdown, 13 of …

In Covid-hit India, 23 crore people earn less than Rs 375 per day: Study
3 years, 7 months ago

In Covid-hit India, 23 crore people earn less than Rs 375 per day: Study

India Today  

India's economy staged an impressive recovery after the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, but the alarming rise in poverty tells a different story about the country’s future economic outlook. “An alarming 90 per cent of respondents in the Azim Premji University CLIPS reported that households had suffered a reduction in food intake as a result of the lockdown” the …

Second Covid Wave Poses Downside Risks to India's Economic Growth: S&P
3 years, 7 months ago

Second Covid Wave Poses Downside Risks to India's Economic Growth: S&P

News 18  

S&P Global Ratings on Wednesday said the second wave of Covid infections poses downside risks to India’s GDP and heightens the possibility of business disruptions. Last week another global rating agency Fitch had projected India’s economic growth in current fiscal at 12.8 per cent, while Moody’s Investors Service had earlier this month said that the second wave of Covid infections …

PEW report points to how the pandemic has led to a shrinking of the middle class in South Asia
3 years, 8 months ago

PEW report points to how the pandemic has led to a shrinking of the middle class in South Asia

The Hindu  

A Pew Research Centre analysis on the impact of COVID-19 in seven regions in the world has startling findings on the deleterious standard of living in India. The Asian scenario Asia accounted for the bulk of the shrinking global middle class; the numbers fell by 32 million in South Asia and 19 million in East Asia and the Pacific. Of …

Covid has pushed too many Indians back into poverty
3 years, 8 months ago

Covid has pushed too many Indians back into poverty

Live Mint  

As the world continues to be ravaged by the covid pandemic, more than a year on, it is becoming increasingly evident that the greatest burden has fallen on the global poor. By contrast, for India, a staggering 75 million people were pushed back into poverty by the covid crisis—this is almost 60% of the global total increase in poverty caused …

Coronavirus | Pandemic may have doubled poverty in India, says Pew study
3 years, 9 months ago

Coronavirus | Pandemic may have doubled poverty in India, says Pew study

The Hindu  

March 19, 2021 08:07 pm | Updated March 20, 2021 10:59 am IST - NEW DELHI India’s middle class may have shrunk by a third due to 2020’s pandemic-driven recession, while the number of poor people — earning less than ₹150 per day — more than doubled, according to an analysis by the Pew Research Center. “The middle class in …

Pandemic pushed over 3 crore Indians out of middle class: Pew Research
3 years, 9 months ago

Pandemic pushed over 3 crore Indians out of middle class: Pew Research

India Today  

A recent research report has revealed that the novel coronavirus pandemic last year pushed approximately 3.2 crore Indians out of the middle class. The report prepared by the US-based Pew Research Center showed that the number of Indians in the middle class — those who earn between $10 to $20 per day — shrunk by roughly 3.2 crores. Read | …

Pandemic pushes 32 mn Indians out of middle class: Pew Research
3 years, 9 months ago

Pandemic pushes 32 mn Indians out of middle class: Pew Research

Live Mint  

Financial woes brought by last year's coronavirus pandemic have pushed about 32 million Indians out of the middle class, undoing years of economic gains, a report showed on Thursday, while job losses pushed millions into poverty. The number of Indians in the middle class, or those earning between $10 and $20 a day, shrunk by about 32 million, compared with …

18 million Indians will switch careers by 2030 due to covid-19
3 years, 10 months ago

18 million Indians will switch careers by 2030 due to covid-19

Live Mint  

The pandemic has changed our relationship with work irrevocably—we know this but a new study estimated that 18 million workers in India will change their occupation in the next decade, all because of the novel coronavirus. Worldwide, about 100 million workers may need to shift from their current occupation in the next decade due to the impact of covid-19, states …

Explained: How Covid-19 has made life difficult for India's poor
3 years, 11 months ago

Explained: How Covid-19 has made life difficult for India's poor

India Today  

The coronavirus pandemic has made life difficult for the poorest population in the world as the economic crisis triggered by it has led to a sharp rise in income inequality. The report indicated that the top billionaires in India became richer by 35 per cent during the pandemic, while millions of poor Indians lost their jobs. “The wealth of Indian …

India to Witness Double-digit Growth in Next Fiscal: Report
4 years ago

India to Witness Double-digit Growth in Next Fiscal: Report

News 18  

New Delhi: Having gone through a rough patch on account of the coronavirus pandemic, the Indian economy is expected to record a double-digit growth at 10 per cent in 2021-22, according to a report. Stronger car sales, rising production of finished steel and diesel consumption, and higher goods and services tax revenue collections indicate that the economy has bounced back …

India to witness double-digit growth in next fiscal: Deloitte report
4 years ago

India to witness double-digit growth in next fiscal: Deloitte report

Live Mint  

Having gone through a rough patch on account of the coronavirus pandemic, the Indian economy is expected to record a double-digit growth at 10% in 2021-22, according to a report. The PMI Manufacturing Index is at its highest since 2008," said the report titled 'Voice of Asia' prepared by Deloitte. Stronger car sales, rising production of finished steel and diesel …

India suffers first recession in decades
4 years ago

India suffers first recession in decades

CNN  

New Delhi/London CNN Business — India has plunged into recession for the first time in nearly a quarter of a century as the pandemic continues to weigh heavily on Asia’s third biggest economy, which economists warn will struggle to recover from the slump. Government consumption also fell sharply in part because of an“inadequate fiscal response to the crisis,” said senior …

India Will Be Worst Affected Among Major Economies Even After Coronavirus Pandemic Wanes: Report
4 years, 1 month ago

India Will Be Worst Affected Among Major Economies Even After Coronavirus Pandemic Wanes: Report

News 18  

India will be the worst affected among the world’s major economies even after the coronavirus pandemic wanes, with output 12% below pre-virus levels through the middle of the decade, according to global forecasting firm Oxford Economics. “We forecast India’s growth equilibrium to worsen substantially over the medium term, with potential growth averaging just 4.5% over 2020-2025 in our latest baseline, …

Steady Rise in Covid-19 Cases, Spillover Effects of Lockdown to Hit India's Economic Growth, Says Report
4 years, 2 months ago

Steady Rise in Covid-19 Cases, Spillover Effects of Lockdown to Hit India's Economic Growth, Says Report

News 18  

Resurgence in Covid-19 cases is the main headwind for the global economy, and in India the steady rise in coronavirus caseloads will have an adverse impact on the country’s economic growth, says a report. Singh added that “restrained government finances, probable defaults by firms and the consequent subdued investment demand will continue to be a drag on growth.” India’s economy …

Explained: How a raging pandemic is widening India's wealth gap
4 years, 3 months ago

Explained: How a raging pandemic is widening India's wealth gap

India Today  

Ever since India gained Independence, the country has traversed a wave of ups and downs to finally become a global powerhouse over the last five years. In India, the wealth gap has been rising sharply during the ongoing pandemic as previous levels of income inequality were already high in the country. A January 2020 study by rights group Oxfam India …

India's jobless growth, coronavirus impact and rising unemployment
4 years, 3 months ago

India's jobless growth, coronavirus impact and rising unemployment

India Today  

When India’s growth was blooming in 2016-17, it earned the tag of the fastest-growing major economy in the world. READ | Welcome to Jobless Growth: Why India is facing an unemployment crisis They warned that the rate of jobless growth could severely impact India’s economy which depends heavily on the middle class population, engaged primarily in salaried jobs and entrepreneurship. …

India’s Gen Z risks getting left out of formal jobs: London School of Economics study
4 years, 3 months ago

India’s Gen Z risks getting left out of formal jobs: London School of Economics study

Live Mint  

India has been struggling with an unemployment problem and the coronavirus pandemic is making it even more difficult for its youngest workers to earn a decent living, shows an analysis by the London School of Economics. Workers in cities in the age group of 18 to 25 years were already much less likely to be in formal jobs and more …

GDP at historic low: Looking beyond the coronavirus shock
4 years, 3 months ago

GDP at historic low: Looking beyond the coronavirus shock

India Today  

India's historic GDP contraction in the first quarter of 2020-21 has been primarily attributed to the devastation caused by the novel coronavirus pandemic. While the sudden Covid-19 shock played a major role in paralysing growth since April, weak economic fundamentals had eroded the country's financial stability even before the pandemic. The depth of India's economic contraction in the first quarter …

India’s economy contracts by 24%, worst in at least 24 years
4 years, 3 months ago

India’s economy contracts by 24%, worst in at least 24 years

Associated Press  

NEW DELHI — India’s economy contracted by 23.9% in the April-June quarter, its worst performance in at least 24 years, the government announced Monday, as the coronavirus pandemic ravaged what was once the world’s fastest growing major economy. The contraction followed tepid 3.1% growth in the previous quarter, which was the worst performance in at least eight years, the National …

GDP data: Coronavirus pandemic may dent India's growth for years
4 years, 3 months ago

GDP data: Coronavirus pandemic may dent India's growth for years

India Today  

India is likely to post its steepest ever economic growth slump on record, just a couple of years after it earned the tag of the fastest-growing major economy in the world. The country is expected to register a sharp quarterly growth slump of 15-25 per cent - the worst since such data was first published in India in 1996 - …

Govt Analysts Say Signs of Recovery in Rural Economy Hailed by PM Modi 'At Best a Mitigating Factor'
4 years, 4 months ago

Govt Analysts Say Signs of Recovery in Rural Economy Hailed by PM Modi 'At Best a Mitigating Factor'

News 18  

India is staring at a protracted slowdown as coronavirus cases reach its countryside, with signs of recovery in the rural economy hailed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi "at best a mitigating factor", government officials and analysts said. "The economic situation has in fact worsened since April and May, and we are likely moving towards a longer economic slowdown than earlier …

5 hurdles in path of India's economic recovery
4 years, 4 months ago

5 hurdles in path of India's economic recovery

India Today  

The Indian economy is going through a turbulent period with key indicators hinting at a prolonged slowdown. The report also mentioned that India’s economic recovery could take much longer than expected. India’s consumer demand is declining due to drop in household incomes in the wake of major job losses in the wake of a raging pandemic that has forced closures …

Covid invasion halts India's rural recovery, longer economic slowdown on cards
4 years, 4 months ago

Covid invasion halts India's rural recovery, longer economic slowdown on cards

India Today  

India is staring at a protracted slowdown as coronavirus cases reach its countryside, with signs of recovery in the rural economy hailed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi “at best a mitigating factor”, government officials and analysts said. “The economic situation has in fact worsened since April and May, and we are likely moving towards a longer economic slowdown than earlier …

India's economic recovery unlikely this year as pandemic rages on
4 years, 4 months ago

India's economic recovery unlikely this year as pandemic rages on

India Today  

India’s economic recovery may take much longer than predicted earlier as GDP growth forecasts for the year remain in deep contraction zone in the wake of the Covid-induced slowdown. According to the report, India’s GDP is expected to contract 16.5 per cent during the June quarter as businesses struggle to cope with the losses incurred during the ongoing pandemic. While …

Reality check: How coronavirus crushed dreams of millions in rural India
4 years, 4 months ago

Reality check: How coronavirus crushed dreams of millions in rural India

India Today  

Until late March, Ashish Kumar was helping to make plastic boxes for Ferrero Rocher praline chocolates and the plastic spoons tucked inside Kinder Joy eggs to scoop out the milky sweet cream inside. Kumar is one of around 131,000 people who local officials estimate returned from working around India to Gonda, the district in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh …

Early signs of India economic recovery wane as coronavirus surges
4 years, 4 months ago

Early signs of India economic recovery wane as coronavirus surges

Live Mint  

India’s economic activity monitors are beginning to flatline just months after showing signs of returning to life. Latest data from Apple Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google showed mobility suffered in recent weeks after notching up an increase since May, when Asia’s third-largest economy began exiting a nationwide lockdown to contain the coronavirus outbreak. More indicators The Nomura India Business Resumption …

Growth Depends on Social Norms, Political Culture; Not Just Economic Policies: Ex-World Bank Economist
4 years, 4 months ago

Growth Depends on Social Norms, Political Culture; Not Just Economic Policies: Ex-World Bank Economist

News 18  

Economic growth of a country depends on social norms, political culture and institutions, and these are deteriorating in India visibly from 2016, former World Bank chief economist Kaushik Basu said on Monday, emphasising that if these trends are not reversed then Indian dream will come to an end. Basu, a professor of economics at Cornell University and former chief economic …

Coronavirus | Policymakers in India must understand that the pandemic is still quite early in the country: Global health expert
4 years, 5 months ago

Coronavirus | Policymakers in India must understand that the pandemic is still quite early in the country: Global health expert

The Hindu  

While nations across the world struggle to contain the fallout of the human toll and economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, public health experts such as Dr. Ashish Jha, K.T. Right now, the statistics suggest that around 20,000 people have died of this virus in India. If high-income countries with very good surveillance systems are missing anywhere from 30%-70% of …

India growth forecast cut again at Citi as coronavirus cases surge
4 years, 5 months ago

India growth forecast cut again at Citi as coronavirus cases surge

Live Mint  

Citigroup Inc. sharply lowered its forecast for India’s economy as the coronavirus pandemic shows no sign of slowing. The nation’s gross domestic product will contract 6% in the fiscal year to March 2021, steeper than Citi’s previous estimate for a 3.5% decline, its analysts led by Samiran Chakraborty, chief India economist in Mumbai, wrote in a report to clients. India …

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