COVID-19 Unlocking Led Economic Recovery Deepen In July: ICRA Report
By Abhishek Sharma, BW Correspondent
Despite a normalizing base, eight of the 15 tracked high-frequency indicators recorded an improvement in their year-on-year (YoY) expansion in July 2021.
As per a report by ICRA Ratings, professional investment Information and Credit Rating Agency, the COVID-19 unlocking has resulted in the improvement in the performance of several service sector indicators, high frequency industrial, mobility and toll collections in July this year.
“With the further easing of the state-wise restrictions, especially across the southern states, the roots of the economic recovery deepened in July 2021. Despite a normalizing base, eight of the 15 tracked high-frequency indicators recorded an improvement in their year-on-year (YoY) expansion in July 2021.”
Also, in July 2021, a total of 10 of the 13 non-financial indicators registered a month-on-month (MoM) uptick, however, the speed of the improvement expectedly eased from the levels seen in June 2021. “Encouragingly, the volumes of several indicators in July 2021 rose above their pre-COVID (July 2019) as well as the April 2021 levels,” the report stated.
Talking about the YoY performance of Goods and Services Tax (GST), e-way bills, generation of electricity, vehicle registrations, the output of Coal India Limited (CIL), domestic passenger traffic, etc have also witnessed improvement in July 2021 as compared to June 2021.
Additionally, the deterioration in the YoY performance of a portion of the indicators like the yield of passenger vehicles (PVs), bikes and motorcycles, was basically because of the ominous base impact. However, the report also stated the consecutive momentum of growth eased in July 2021, after having recorded a sharp uptick in June 2021. Meanwhile, ports’ cargo traffic, diesel consumption and rail freight showed a decrease in MoM terms in July 2021, according to the report.
“As the states started unlocking, the mobility for retail and recreation posted a sharp improvement from around 60 per cent below baseline at end-May 2021 to 23 per cent below baseline by end-July 2021 (seven-day moving average),” the report mentioned.
In July 2021, FASTag toll collections have increased to Rs 2,980 crore (15.5 per cent), and mildly trailing the rose to Rs 3,090 crore in March 2021. Meanwhile, the report stated that early data for August 2021 hints towards a mixed trend in all the available indicators.
