Impact of COVID-19 on Indian economy and the road ahead

COVID-19 has unexpectedly brought out the structural and cyclical flaws existing in many economies. India is certainly one of them. Till recently, India was a global engine of economic growth and prosperity. It was next to China on the parameter of ‘rate of growth in GDP’. Being the biggest democratic country, which has been carrying the baggage of poverty, illiteracy, systemic corruption and casteism, India is also a great matter of socio-economic analysis for many researchers world-wide. Before the Corona began, Indian economy was struggling with growing unemployment, crony capitalism, stagnation in the rural economy, serious inefficiency in the banking sector and an overall sluggishness in most of its sectors. This struggle is basically a result of structural flaws in this economy, which were not corrected through pragmatic economic reforms. The pandemic seriously added to the woes of Indian people, especially the poor. This paper attempts to summarily present the impact of COVID-19 on Indian economy in the background of the same impact on global economy. The paper presents various remedies to not only face COVID-19 but also remove some of the structural flaws. It is a humble request on my part that the readers should assess the present Indian condition, keeping in mind that this country is struggling on two fronts simultaneously viz. her old legacies and the latest pandemic.