Indian economy dims further, recovery still uncertain

The outlook for India’s struggling economy has darkened further on weak business activities and surging virus cases. This will likely prompt the Reserve Bank of India to lower interest rates again, a Reuters survey showed.  

According to the July 20-28 survey of 60 economists, the Indian economy will contract this quarter and on the next as it is predicted to struggle this whole fiscal year. This projected the inadequacy of New Delhi’s $266 billion economic rescue package, indicating that more support is needed to salvage the virus-beaten economy.

Last quarter, the economy was predicted to have declined 20.0%. For the current and succeeding quarters, it is expected to drop 0.6% and 0.3% respectively. This came sharper than the second quarter’s prediction of a 0.8% growth in the third quarter and 4.2% in the remaining quarters.