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How can India's economy handle new lockdowns?

A second wave of coronavirus cases threatens to derail both lives and livelihoods.

India is facing an alarming surge in coronavirus cases, a dangerous second wave that’s threatening to again derail both lives and livelihoods. Hard lockdowns last year battered its economy, and fresh restrictions and regional lockdowns to contain the surge are making many wonder what an economic recovery is going to look like.

Many millions have lost their jobs over the last year, or seen their incomes dip. Is this a temporary phase? Recent estimates have raised India's growth forecast for this year to higher-than-expected, at over 12%. But how severely will the fresh wave affect recovery? How much of it depends on the rate of vaccinations? And how badly will the new curbs, curfews and lockdowns affect consumer sentiment?

In this edition of WorklifeIndia, we discuss what can be done for India's economic recovery.

Presenter: Devina Gupta

Contributors: Gurcharan Das, author, commentator; Geeta Goel, country director, Michael & Susan Dell Foundation; Deep Kalra, founder & CEO, MakeMyTrip

Available now

26 minutes

Last on

Sun 11 Apr 2021 04:32GMT

Image credit

A general view of a shopping mall in Mumbai, India, 5 April 2021 (Credit: Divyakant Solanki/EPA)

Broadcasts

  • Fri 9 Apr 2021 14:32GMT
  • Sat 10 Apr 2021 10:32GMT
  • Sat 10 Apr 2021 23:32GMT
  • Sun 11 Apr 2021 04:32GMT

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