Coronavirus: India’s lockdown to last till May 3, fuelling fears of economic catastrophe

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked employers not to fire people but migrant workers and those who rely on them have already taken a hit from the nationwide lockdown

An economist says India’s slowing growth means its economy is ‘poised to fall off a cliff’

Reading Time:3 minutes

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi pictured during a rally in Arunachal Pradesh last month. Photo: AP

Published: 1:30pm, 14 Apr 2020Updated: 10:54pm, 14 Apr 2020

India’s decision to extend its nationwide lockdown to combat the coronavirus has fuelled further concerns that its US$3 trillion economy – Asia’s third-largest – will face a deeper downturn with millions set to lose jobs.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi acknowledged this in an address on Tuesday, where he described how social distancing and the lockdown had benefits but came with a high economic cost to the nation of 1.3 billion people.

“We have to pay a high price. but compared to the lives of Indians there can be no comparison,”Modi said, adding that regions showing improvement in containing the virus spread up to April 20 could see some relaxation for essential activities, though with conditions attached. Detailed guidelines could come on Wednesday, he said.

India has so far reported 10,453 infections and 358 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

While the country was on track to grow 5 per cent in the financial year that ended in March, its weakest expansion in more than a decade, its unemployment rate has climbed by more than 20 per cent after

the lockdown took effect on 24 March , according to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy.

The jobless rate was 23.4 per cent for the week ending April 5, the business information company’s CEO Mahesh Vyas said, with other economists saying this could expand by the time the lockdown was over.