Economic activity in India is improving gradually, as many high-frequency indicators, such as diesel and power consumption, rail freight and mobility suggest. The uptick in activity, guided till now by an improving Covid-19 situation, has prompted observers such as Moody’s Investors Service and State Bank of India to infer that economic growth in the July-September quarter wouldn't be as bad as expected.
A novel way of looking at the revival--that of comparing two different mobility indices--points to a similar conclusion. The two indicators are Apple Driving Index, which is essentially composed of Apple iPhone users moving out in cars, and