Lockdown ensured growth of cases remained linear, says govt.
- India has managed to maintain a linear growth of COVID-19 cases over the one month period during its lockdown.
- Total number of cases to 21,700 with 16,689 active ones.
Clause allowing FIR against firms for COVID-19 cases goes
- The government withdrew on Thursday the clause allowing filing of an FIR against a company and its management if an employee tests positive for COVID19.
- “There is no mention of sole responsibility fixed of owner/director on detection of COVID-19 positive case/s,” stated the reworked guidelines sent to business owners. “The policy has been revised and the FIR clause removed. All the confusions on this matter should end.”
CII says India growth may slip to 1.5% in FY21
- India’s economy to slow down considerably, with its estimate ranging from a contraction of 0.9% to a growth of 1.5%, in the current financial year due to the COVID-19 outbreak and the subsequent lockdown.
- The extent of damage to the economy from disruption to business, GDP growth in FY21 will likely be the lowest in many decades,” said Chandrajit Banerjee, director general, CII.
- Any significant revival in investment activity is unlikely as capacity utilisation levels may remain suboptimal. Consumption demand is likely to remain lacklustre as people’s incomes have been impacted,
Most commodity prices will drop substantially in 2020: World Bank
- COVID-19 is projected to bring most commodity prices down substantially in 2020, the World Bank said in its ‘April Commodity Markets Outlook’, released on Thursday.
- Prices of energy and metals have been worst hit. While there has been only a moderate impact on the agricultural commodities outlook, supply chain disruptions and export restrictions and stockpiling by governments have raised food security concerns.