Businesses remain optimistic despite local curbs amid surge in COVID cases

NEW DELHI: As India announced opening up of COVID 19 vaccination drive for all citizens above the age of 18 amid a surge in cases, industry and business honchos said they expect the situation to come well under control by May-end. Besides vaccination drive, several state governments including Delhi, have already put in place measures to break the chain of transmission.

Industry captains said that there was no need to press the alarm button as both the industry and the medical fraternity are better prepared to handle the situation today than it was last year when the virus was unknown.

The Narendra Modi government's announcement to embark on mass vaccination has been a sentiment booster.

"The focus now should be on enforcement of regulation, the messaging has to be right�that people collectively need to behave responsibly besides ramping up vaccine production to ensure that sentiments do not get dampened," Deepak Sood, secretary general, Assocham told India Narrative.

"The vaccination drive is already and now fear is back in people, so that in a way is good as they will then follow the restrain that is now necessary to break the chain of transmission. We expect things to normalize in the next two months," Sood said, adding that businesses are functioning as usual. Businesses have already made arrangements to continue with normal functioning amid COVID 19. In fact, a high-level delegation comprising senior officials of the Korean Embassy, Korean Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA), Korea- startup Centre, K-sure, and Korea India Research & Innovation Center (KIRI) even toured Sikkim to explore investment opportunities. Sources said that the delegation may visit other states in the northeast as well in the coming weeks.

On Monday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also assured the industry that there will be no nationwide lockdown.

Sharad Kumar Saraf, president, Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) said that since there is no nationwide lockdown, there is no threat to the exports sector. "Work is going on as schedule and there has been no cancellation of orders," he said.

India last year thrashed out a stimulus package of Rs 29.87 lakh crore — equivalent to 15 per cent of the GDP — in a bid to contain the impact of the virus on health and economy. "Since there is no nationwide lockdown, there will be no major dent on the economic activities..the restrictions will hit economic activities only peripherally," Saraf said

India's COVID situation is worrisome but can be controlled with restrictions and vaccination. Several state governments including Delhi have announced local restrictions and lockdown. India reported 2.56 lakh cases on Monday. While hospitals are crowding up with the surge in cases, the number of deaths on Monday was 1757.

The total number of recovered patients stood at 1.54 lakh on Monday. "So going by pure statistics, the situation is not as scary as it is being projected," said a senior executive who is associated with a multinational company.

Besides, COVID 19 second wave is not India specific. Several countries are reeling under the second wave. "It is a it is not something which is related to the country's policymaking," a senior executive of a Gurgaon-based multinational firm said. The COVID 19 second wave may temporarily dampen sentiments, but the country's fundamentals over the medium to long term have remained in-tact. In an interview to PTI last week, Deloitte CEO Punit Renjen said that the 21st century is "India's century". "Investors remain upbeat about India, though there has been a surge in Coronavirus cases. Foreign companies that are looking to invest, are looking at India," Deepak Bagla, MD and CEO, Invest India said, adding that several companies are in talks for greenfield as well as brownfield investments. (IANS)

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