Economy to start looking up from Q3 this fiscal: Assocham

MANGALURU: With the bulk of the economic activities, particularly in the pandemic-hit metro cities and the most industrialised states remaining largely locked down or severely restricted, GDP contraction of 23.9 per cent in the first quarter of FY'21, though discomforting is on the expected lines.
Though the second quarter, July-September, saw calibrated unlocking of the economy, several key services sectors like hotels, hospitality, airlines, railways are operating at a bare minimal level.So, Q2 is also expected to be challenging. However, we are hopeful that things would start picking up from the third quarter and right through the second half of 2020-21.
It requires a huge courage and resolve not only on the part of the government but also citizens to brave out and get back to work even as the Covid-19 caseload is scaling up. Every citizen of the country and every segment of the economy would have to remain vigilant against the pandemic while we work for the resumption of the economy.
Agriculture and allied sector has been the real saviour with 3.4 percent growth and contributed immensely to India's food security. Adoption of digitisation across the sectors too helped the country cope with the difficult situation.