India’s Economy under Pressure from COVID-19

The article examines the negative changes in the Indian economy since the beginning of 2020 under the pressure of the COVID-19 pandemic and measures to overcome them. The increase in the number of cases, the introduction of quarantine led to a rapid reduction in production, mass unemployment, and a decrease in the country’s GDP. In the current emergency conditions, it became an objective necessity to increase the impact on the situation of the nation state in various forms. It took dramatic changes in the economic policy of India of the previous period, when the position of private entrepreneurship was significantly strengthened, especially in industry and services. The COVID-19 pandemic forced the government of the country, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to tackle the primary challenge - to keep the country from sliding into total prolonged stagnation and at the same time to support a multimillion poverty-stricken population. The main method of the government was the policy of financial saturation of the economy through direct financial injections, as well as the direct distribution of money and food in kind among the poor. The collapse of economic activity in India in the first half of 2020 was replaced in the third quarter of this year by signs of some economic recovery. For India, according to UNCTAD, in 2021, the opportunity to attract significant foreign investment from the leading countries of the world, interested in expanding their positions in its huge domestic market, is increasing. In the context of the pandemic, India’s role in revitalizing, at the initiative of N. Modi, political and economic contacts in South Asia between SAARC members became especially significant.

1. $1 Billion from World Bank to Protect India’s Poorest from COVID-19 (Coronavirus) (2020). World Bank, May 14, 2020. Available at: https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2020/05/13/worldbank-covid-coronavirus-india-protectpoor, accessed 15.10.2020.

2. ADB (Asian Development Bank) (2020), Asian Development Outlook, April 2020.

3. FDI Statistics. FDI Equity Inflows. Delhi, January 2019 – March 2020 (2020). Government of India. Ministry of Commerce and Industry. Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade. Available at: https://dipp.gov.in/publications/fdi-statistics, accessed 15.10.2020.

4. Foreign Direct Investment in India Increased by 3269 USD Million in May of 2020 (2020). Trading Economics. Available at: https://tradingeconomics.com/india/foreign-direct-investment#:~:text=Foreign%20Direct%20Investment%20in%20India%20averaged%201419.55%20USD%20Million%20from,Million%20in%20November%20of%202017.&text=India%20Foreign%20Direct%20Investment%20%2D%20values,updated%20on%20September%20of%202020, accessed 15.10.2020.

5. India’s Foreign Trade. Press Information Bureau, Delhi, 15 Apr 2020 – 15 Aug 2020 (2020). Government of India. Ministry of Commerce & Industry.

6. India’s Foreign Trade. Press Release, Delhi, 15 July 2020 (2020). Government of India. Ministry of Commerce & Industry. Indian Economic Development & Growth Report (2020). IBEF, July 31, 2020. Available at: https://www.ibef.org/economy/monthly-economic-report, accessed 15.10.2020.

7. Investment Flows to Developing Countries in Asia Could Fall up to 45% in 2020 (2020). UNCTAD, June 16, 2020. Available at: https://unctad.org/en/pages/newsdetails.aspx?OriginalVersionID=2399, accessed 16.10.2020.

8. Monthly International Merchandise Trade (2020). OECD. Available at: https://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DataSet-Code=MEI_TRD#, accessed 10.09.2020.

9. OECD. Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. World Economic Outlook, April 2020: The Great Lockdown (2020). IMF. Available at: https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WEO/Issues/2020/04/14/weoapril-2020, accessed 15.10.2020.

10. World Investment Report (2020). UNCTAD. Available at: https://unctad.org/webflyer/world-investment-report-2020, accessed 15.10.2020.