India’s business resumption hits fresh record high: Nomura

The Nomura India business Resumption index touched yet another high of 119.8 for the week ended 26 December versus 116.4 in the prior week, 20 basis points higher than the pre pandemic level, the Japanese financial holding company said on December 28.

The data suggest that the economy remains on recovery path despite fear of surging omicron cases, tightening policy by central bank and inflationary pressure.

Last week, amid rising cases of omicron, many state governments imposed night curfew which will remain until the first week of January.  Further, the Union government has announced booster doses for frontline workers and senior citizens along with vaccination for children aged between 15-18 from January.

“The current restrictions appear primarily targeted towards new year festivities, but if these get extended into January, they may affect mobility and delay the recovery in contact-intensive services. However, a more pandemic resilient economy should cushion industry, broader services, and agriculture, supporting overall growth” Nomura Research said in its report.

The number of Omicron cases risen to 578 in India and at least 151 patients recovered, the government said on Monday. It reported 6531 new coronavirus cases and 315 deaths on Monday.

Mobility continued to improve, led by the Google workplace (5.6 percentage points over the week) and Apple driving indices (11.5pp), even though the Google retail & recreation stayed largely flat (-0.1pp).  The labour participation rate inched lower to 40.7% from 40.9% in the prior week, while power demand rose by 2.5% week on week against 3.2% previously.