• Thursday, March 28, 2024

Business

India economy rebound faces growing risks from Covid variants: Reuters poll

An auto-rickshaw decorated with mock syringes plies through the streets in Chennai, India, to boost awareness amid people about Covid-19 coronavirus. (Photo by ARUN SANKAR/AFP via Getty Images)

By: Shubham Ghosh

INDIA’S economic rebound, which has been slowed down in recent months because of the Covid-19 pandemic, could lose its momentum further as the disease’s variants and rising inflation pose big threats, a Reuters poll of economists has said.

The latest survey results have showed that India’s central bank — the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) — has to take some difficult policy decisions. The bank has already observed two back-to-back months of inflation above the six per cent upper limit of the range it tolerates.

Last week, the bank said that prospects for the Indian economy had brightened and the inflation rise would be transitory, reflecting what most major central banks think.

However, the rapid spread of the Delta variant of Covid-19 in some states and its becoming dominant around the world has raised concerns. A devastating second wave of the virus wreaked havoc in the country a few months ago, putting its health infrastructure under severe stress.

Related Stories

Loading