Sachin Bansal bats for reopening economy, says 'have to learn to live with the virus'
Bansal tweeted saying that India can't make use of the opportunities if the country's most productive people are locked in their homes.
April 30, 2020 / 04:09 PM IST
Joining the growing voices on the need to resume economic activity, Flipkart co-founder and CEO of Navi Technologies Sachin Bansal has said it is "time to open up the economy".
Bansal tweeted saying, "We can't lock ourselves up for 2 years in homes waiting for a vaccine. India can't make use of the opportunities if our most productive people are locked in their homes. With COVID's growth slowing down it's time to open up the economy. We have to learn to live with the virus."
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The debate on whether and how to reopen the economy has seen a lot of participants recently. While many have been harping upon the need to open up the economy and getting back to business, there are others who are against the idea of rushing to resume operations for the fear that the same could lead to a sudden spike in the number of infections and thereby hurt the progress made so far in containing the spread of the coronavirus, or COVID-19 pandemic.
Earlier today, former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan said that we need to look at opening up the Indian economy in a measured way as the country's unemployment numbers are worrying. Rajan, in his conversation with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, said India needs to be cleverer in lifting the lockdown and open up its economy soon as it does not have the capacity to support people across the spectrum for too long, he said.
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On the global stage, Mark Zuckerberg is one among the many who endorses the ongoing lockdown to control the outbreak. His opinion is in direct contrast with that of another Silicon Valley bigwig, Tesla's Elon Musk, who has tweeted against the lockdown saying "give people their freedom back".
Among one of the first people to call for reopening the economy at the earliest was US President Donald Trump, who continues to reiterate that his government will not extend the lockdown. This, even as the number of reported COVID-19 infections in the country has already surpassed the 1 million mark.
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