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EVALUATING PANDEMIC MEASURES
Industry experts share their views on the on-going second wave of Coronavirus’
impact on India’s growth momentum and economic recovery, and how much
of a deterrent are the lockdowns and curbs on the manufacturing activities to
the ease of doing business…
Source: Addverb Technologies now and we are seeing positiv- supply chain of businesses need
ity rate falling below 5 percent, to have the capability to absorb
Satish Shukla the lockdowns must be lifted in these shocks and still deliver the
Co-founder & Director a phase-wise manner to ensure service levels. This will act as a
HR & Marketing the number of infections do not major trigger for demand of Ro-
Addverb Technologies rise again. We might see some botics and Automation. We saw
casualties in businesses which a demand spurt last year due to
Bigger demand spurt for have stressed balance sheets. But this, hence expect a bigger de-
Automation we see a very strong revival from mand spurt for Automation post
We have witnessed a phase-wise Q-2 in the economy. With a good the second wave.
and more calibrated lockdown chunk of population in the West
in the second wave compared to being vaccinated, their econo- Lives important than
the sudden lockdown in the first my is opening which will fuel livelihoods
wave. More than the lockdown, the export-oriented sectors and It has turned out that lockdowns
the economy will be hit by the the pent-up demand will drive are essential to curb the chain
spread of the virus as people have up consumption in the domestic of infection beyond a certain
been affected as Covid has spread sector. The Government has also limit. There is no alternative,
to rural parts of the country as shown the intent to drive up in- and we must accept the impact
well. As the cases are receding frastructure spending in the last that these lockdowns have on
budget and should continue the business and the way we run
same path as the road to recov- business. Also, manufacturing
ery has again been fractured must be seen in the perspective
due to the second wave. Also, of a full business cycle. In this
after the first wave, there was a lockdown, many states did take
thought process that the worst is measures to ensure that utilities
behind us, but the rate at which and other critical sectors oper-
the second wave struck, it is clear ate without any hindrance.
now that the manufacturing and
POONAM PEDNEKAR Source: AGI Glaspac country, there was a huge disrup- recovery phase of the Indian
Chief Copy Editor tion in every sector. Industries economy. The sector, which was
Magic Wand Media Inc Rrajesh Khosla were not able to settle with their impacted by labor shortage and
poonam.pednekar@ President & CEO regular work. Phase 1 of Covid-19 lockdowns in the first wave, is
magicwandmedia.in AGI Glaspac has dented the economy. While now better equipped through
most industries were on the path several Government policies in-
Regaining growth to recovery, the second wave of troduced for economic recovery.
momentum the pandemic has derailed their Companies are adopting alterna-
When the lockdown was im- momentum. However, it is also tive sources of supply and ensur-
posed for the first time in the important to note that most Indi- ing that the labor force continues
an companies are going into this to operate safely.
second wave with improved op- The container glass manufac-
erating conditions and resources turing industry is transforming
compared to last year. These com- during the pandemic, with new
panies had already adapted to the demographic conditions and
changes and digitalized most of new customer demands.
the business operations. The Indian economy is gain-
India’s Manufacturing sector ing back its growth momentum
is playing a crucial role in the now, and I believe that a quicker
18 | May-June 2021 Modern Manufacturing India
