Recovery tracker: Lower mobility, power generation in week ended Sept 14

Railway freight traffic numbers were higher than before

People spent more time at home and visits elsewhere dropped accordingly.

Footfalls at retail stores and recreation spots, and visits to groceries, pharmacies and workplaces all declined in the week ended September 14, shows data from search engine Google. It uses anonymised location data to track how people are moving during the pandemic.

Electricity consumption in the country dipped last week and the gap over 2019 levels shrank due to lower generation and demand. Power producers generated 4,310 million units (MU) of electricity per day on average in the latest week. It was 4,615 million units a day the previous week. In comparison, power generation was 3,809 MU a day during the corresponding week in 2019.

About 337,000 vehicles were registered in the latest week, similar to levels seen the previous week. The 2019 numbers had seen an increase around the same time. The gap over 2019 has widened as a result. The latest weekly numbers are 7 per cent lower than 2019, compared to the 1.5 per cent gap seen the previous week.

Aviation numbers held steady. There were 343,000 passengers a day on average, on 2,601 flights. This was about one per cent higher than the previous week, which had 340,000 passengers and 2,590 flights.

The Indian Railways registered higher growth in the latest week. The volume of goods carried grew 14.12 per cent over the 9.34 per cent growth the previous week. The amount of money Railways made from carrying these goods, called freight revenue, was up 19.22 per cent. It was at 14.96 per cent in the previous week.

Business Standard tracks these indicators as a way of getting a weekly picture of the economy. Analysts globally have been tracking similar indicators to get an up-to-date picture of the economy ahead of official macroeconomic data which is often released with a lag.

Google mobility numbers are released with a lag. The latest is as of 14 September. All other data is as of Sunday, September 18.