CONCERNED, NOT ALARMED

India Inc. faces headwinds in the New Year. But with strong fundamentals, industry leaders hope to tide over short-term crises by focusing onlong-term goals

LATEST REPORTS EMANATING from China paint a rather curious picture. Beijing streets are bustling with people, relieved after a draconian zero-Covid system. While the BF.7 Covid strain plays havoc in the country, with its hospitals swamped with the sick and elderly, an opaque Chinese system does little to make things easy for the world outside. Unofficial estimates say the number of those dying there may be in thousands, but officially, China plays super censor. On Christmas Day, it said, there were no Corona fatalities.

The world is not taking chances, though. India, in addition to others like the US, Italy, Japan, France, has made Covid screening mandatory for arrivals from China. With 90 percent double vaccination (booster does coverage does remain a point of concern), India’s preparedness for any new variant of Coronavirus is robust.

2023: A Year of Uncertainties 

For a world already struggling to cope with the Ukraine war, a global slowdown, particularly in Europe and China, rising inflation, and multiple other challenges like climate change, the latest China crisis has only added to the anxiety. Indeed, the only certainty that economies now must live with is “future uncertainties”.

Consider this: Global projections, including those from IMF, a year ago had said that India would grow at a rate close to 10 percent in the calendar year 2023. And, then Russia invaded Ukraine. The recent Supplementary Demand for Grants, to the tune of Rs 3.25 lakh crore, was largely on account of fertiliser and food subsidies, necessitated by the Ukraine War.

NIRMALA SITHARAMAN, Union Finance Minister