Businesses relieved as PM Modi says there will be no lockdown

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s assurance to the nation that there would be no lockdown –  not even partial– despite nationwide surge in Covid 19 cases has come as a huge relief to business houses, especially those categorized as micro, small and medium. However, there could be some disruption in the supply chain network due to local restrictions and night curfews imposed by a few state governments and authorities, though experts said that these measures will have limited impact on controlling the spread of the virus.</p>
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Several countries including neighbouring Bangladesh have imposed a lockdown to control the second wave of the pandemic.</p>
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Speculations over imposition of another lockdown to contain the spread of the virus was beginning to create uncertainty among businesses as well as citizens.</p>
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“There were rumours that India may once again impose a strict lockdown with the rise in Covid 19 cases leading to uncertainty among businesses as well as consumers was beginning to develop. Opening of the businesses and shops is now critical as traders have already incurred huge losses due to the nationwide lockdown imposed last year,” Praveen Khandelwal, secretary general, CAIT said.</p>
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India Inc has just started recovering from the massive economic shock – a direct fallout of the Coronavirus induced national lockdown last year.</p>
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“Lockdown was imposed when it was needed. Now the scenario is different with better medical facilities and awareness. It is not the government now but the people, who need to be more responsible,” Deepak Sood secretary general, Assocham told India Narrative. Sood added that consumption must keep expanding to boost business activities. “The rise Covid 19 cases have not yet dented the overall sentiment but if the cases go up further, eventually it will be impacted,” he said.</p>
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India’s economy contracted by 24.4 per cent in the first quarter of 2019-20 owing to a stringent Covid 19 induced lockdown while in the second quarter it was a (-) 7.3 per cent. However, India managed to bounce back and registered an economic growth of 0.4 per cent for the third quarter of the financial year.</p>
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The World Bank recently jacked up its projections for India’s economic growth by 4.7 percentage points to 10.1 per cent for 2021-22.</p>
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BJP’s spokesperson for economic affairs Gopal Krishna Agarwal said that the Centre is focused on economic revival.</p>
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“Boost economic growth is priority. India is already on its way to recovery and all projections have indicated that we will touch a double-digit growth figure, we need to maintain the momentum,” Agarwal said.</p>
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According to a State Bank of India (SBI) report, localised lockdowns or restrictions have not resulted in controlling the spread of infection. It also noted that such measure only add to losses in terms of livelihood. It underlined the need to press the pedal on the vaccination drive to control the spread of the virus.</p>