Business Activity Stays Above Pre-Covid Levels For 2nd Week
- ByAyushi Ray | August 24, 2021
Business activity stays above pre-Covid levels for the 2nd week. It rose from 100.1 in the week before to 100.8 in the week ended August 22, according to the Nomura India Business Resumption Index. “While the NIBRI has reached pre-pandemic level, Google mobility remains 13-14 percentage points (pp) below normal, suggesting further scope for the NIBRI to rise (by 2-3 pp), once mobility fully normalizes. The third wave risk remains, though August has not seen a flare-up, and the vaccination pace has risen to 5.1 million doses per day versus 3.9 million in July,” said Sonal Varma and Aurodeep Nandi, economists, Nomura, in the report. Last week, business activity in India exceeded pre-pandemic levels for the first time, indicating a quick recovery from the second Covid-19 wave.
According to Nomura, the continued recovery in Q3, the upcoming festive season, payment of dearness allowance arrears by the government, pick-up in vaccination, easing financial conditions, and fiscal activism, support its GDP growth forecast of 10.4% year-on-year for FY22. Nomura estimates GDP growth to contract sequentially by 4.3% in Q2, but rise 29.4% compared to the year-ago, above consensus estimates of 20.5%.Mobility indicators continued to rise. The Google workplace and retail and recreation index rose by 0.7 pp and 3.1pp, respectively. The Apple driving index rose by 4.7 pp. Power demand contracted by 3.4% week-on-week, reflecting payback after two weeks of solid increases, while the labour participation rate eased from 40.4% to 40%.
Follow Startup Story
Related Posts
