Why the current scenario demands a mid-year economic review on priority

Impact of over-leveraging by companies on the banking sector and disruption caused by Covid-19 make for extremely unpredictable times

The Economic Survey of 2018-19 projected India's economic growth rate at seven per cent for 2019-20. By the time the first and second advance estimates came around a year later, it was scaled down to five per cent.
 

With Covid-19 impacting the economy in March, nobody is now talking of even five per cent growth for 2019-20. Exports have already shrunk by 34.5 per cent in March, the steepest monthly fall in at least 25 years. IHS Purchasing managers' index for services also contracted sharply in March to 49.3 from a level of 57.5 points in February. In PMI parlance,