FIRM HAND AT THE WHEEL

The year 2020 will go down in history as the year of the pandemic and an unprecedented economic crisis. For the first time in four decades, the Indian economy slipped into a recession, with consecutive quarters of negative growth, precipitated by one of the most prolonged and stringent lockdowns globally. Manufacturing came to a halt, paralysis struck the services sector, migrant labour left the cities, the micro and small enterprises lobbied for support to survive.

But nearly a year after Covid-19 disrupted our lives, the economy is limping back to normalcy. S&P Global Ratings has revised its FY21 growth forecast for India to -7.7 per cent, reflecting a ‘faster-than-expected’ recovery in the second quarter.

Despite the economic devastation and unemployment the lockdown inflicted, the general perception is that the government steered the economy ably through the pandemic. This reflects in the satisfaction expressed by 87 per