CEOs feel economy will recover swiftly, but Covid vaccine holds key

The Indian economy is expected to recover swiftly from the impact of the second Covid-19 wave, but vaccination holds the key to mitigating the downside and lifting consumer sentiment, according to a poll of chief executives by industry body CII.

“The deadly second wave has not affected much of the economic activities as the lockdowns were largely designed to limit social gathering and this has helped limit the impact of the second wave on economic growth when compared to the first wave,”, said Chandrajit Banerjee, Director-General, CII.

About 59% of the 119 CEOs polled expect the recovery in sales for their companies to be better than in the first wave, while 46% expressed a similar trend for their respective industry sectors.

The survey said vaccinations hold the key to mitigating the impact of the second wave on economic activity and boosting consumer sentiment.

Encouragingly, Indian businesses are making concerted efforts to vaccinate employees as reflected by the poll results, which reveal that 55% of employees of the polled firms have received at least the first dose.

Assessing the consumer demand for their sectors, 49% of the CEOs expect consumer demand to be better in the first half of 2021-22 compared to the same period in 2019-20.

About 72% of the CEOs expect private investments to be better in the first half of the current fiscal year compared to the same period in 2019-20, the CII said in a statement, quoting the survey.