The growth estimates for the current financial year 2020-21 being negative might have some veracity but it is important to not see growth as just an average in a year where the economy has to bear the brunt of COVID-19 pandemic and an ensuring lockdown to control its spread, Uday Kotak, President of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) said on June 4.
"We can't see growth as a yearly average in these circumstances but month-by-month how it is coming back. We need to see it as a granular month-by-month recovery. I am sure trend line for quarter after quarter would be reasonably up," Kotak said at a press conference after assuming office as president.
Kotak also said these are early days to say how soon the recovery to pre-COVID-19 levels of growth would be as India is only just coming out of a lockdown.
"At this stage considering the significant impact of COVID-19 in the first two months of the year, it is reasonable to assume that we may have an average that might be negative, but I would see trend growth getting normalcy by end of the year," Kotak said.
CII on June 4 laid out a 10-point road map to revive growth and navigate the challenges of loss of lives and livelihoods posed by the global pandemic COVID-19 that has forced countries across the world to reset their growth paths.
CII’s new theme for 2020-21 Building India for a New World: Lives, Livelihood, Growth was unveiled by the newly elected president Uday Kotak at a press conference held on a virtual platform.
Emphasising on the imperative to bring back growth, the CII president said, “Growth is a necessity that should lead to creation of more jobs while CII works as a knowledge partner with the Government for building self-reliant and competitive India that is deeply engaged with the World."
CII's 10-point roadmap to revive growth in the post-COVID world includes focus on protecting lives and livelihoods, prioritisation of healthcare and education, fiscal deficit and financial stability, distribution of economic pain, role of digital and physical, role of digital and physical, future of jobs and social security, rural-urban rebalance, four levers for growth, and getting growth back.
