Economy poised to shrug off second wave

Hard-hearted as it may sound, there is no correlation between the loss of lives and national output

As the second wave of the pandemic subsides and economic activity revives, those in charge are confident that the economy will shrug off its impact. The chief economic advisor has said so. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor has indicated as much. They are likely to be proved right. The merchants of gloom, who saw the health crisis as spelling disaster for the Indian economy, will be proved wrong.

At its peak, the number of cases in the second wave was four times that in the first wave. The first wave saw the Indian economy shrink by 7.3 per cent.