Power generation, rail freight show gains among weekly economic indicators

Gains seen compared to the previous week, besides improvement relative to 2019

Power generation numbers and the amount of goods that the Indian railways carried point to improved in economic activity, compared to last week.

Other weekly indicators that Business Standard tracks show a more mixed trend. Google mobility data, traffic congestion numbers and pollution statistics are among the other high-frequency indicators tracked to give an on-ground picture of the economy ahead of macroeconomic data such as gross domestic product (GDP), which is released with a lag. Analysts across the world have been tracking such indicators as a means of keeping an eye on the economy amid lockdowns to control the Covid-19 pandemic.