India's Covid-ravaged economy predicted to grow by 11 per cent

Mass vaccination programme and pent-up consumer demand drivers of forecast recovery

India’s economy is expected to do better in the next financial year. AP

Mass vaccination against Covid-19 coupled with a rise in consumer demand will re-energise India’s economy with 11 per cent growth in the fiscal year beginning April 1, the government’s annual economic survey predicted.

Based on the survey, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present India’s annual budget to Parliament on Monday.

The budget is set to unveil measures to boost India's flagging economy, which is expected to have contracted by 7.7 per cent by April.

Coronavirus infections and 154,010 Covid-19 deaths since the onset of the pandemic have taken a heavy toll on India’s economy. But daily infections have been dropping steadily, a trend reflected in the survey’s optimism.

“India’s caseload per million population is one of the lowest when compared globally,” India’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said.

“With the economy’s return to [normality] brought closer by the initiation of a mega vaccination drive, hopes of a robust recovery ... have been rekindled,” the survey found.

The government’s chief economic adviser, Krishnamurthy Subramanian, told the media after releasing the survey that “reforms must go on to enable India to realise its potential growth and to erase the adverse impact of the pandemic”.