An assessment of socioeconomic impact of COVID‐19 pandemic in India

• Published date: 01 May 2021
• Author: Ranjan Aneja,Vaishali Ahuja
• Date: 01 May 2021
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2266

PRACTITIONER PAPER

An assessment of socioeconomic impact of COVID-19

pandemic in India

Ranjan Aneja | Vaishali Ahuja

Department of Economics, Central University

of Haryana, Mahenderagrh, India

Correspondence

Ranjan Aneja, Department of Economics,

Central University of Haryana, Mahenderagrh,

India.

Email: ranjananeja@cuh.ac.in

Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has created an unprecedented loss and disrup-

tions over all across the world. From developed to developing, no country has been

spared from its brunt. In this paper, we have analyzed the implications of COVID-19

on the economy and society of India so far. An impact assessment on the basis of

available lietrature is made on all the three sectors—primary, secondary and service

sector along with the impact on migrants, health, poverty, job losses, informal sector,

environment, and so forth. The all sectors of the economy has been disproportion-

ately affected and even within a sector, there is a disproportionate loss. The societal

impacts are dire too with job losses, mental illness, increased domestic violence, and

so forth. Some positive effects can be seen in terms of improved air quality, water

quality, wildlife but the sustainability of such impact is conditional upon post-COVID

and people's habits and future policies related to the environment.

JEL CLASSIFICATION

E02; E2; E6; I1; I3

1|INTRODUCTION

COVID-19, caused by a new strain of coronavirus, risen out of

Wuhan city of China in December 2019 has been called a pandemic

by the World Health Organization. It has created an unstable envi-

ronment for individuals, loss of business activities, and loss of

employment. This has halted a large number of economic activities

because of infectious nature and has no vaccine till date. As on

June 24, 2020, there are around 9,129,146 cases globally out of

which 4,73,797 lost their lives.

1

India is on the fourth place in the

number of confirmed cases and first in Asia. Total confirmed cases

in India are 4,56,183 out of which 14,476 lost their lives mainly in

the states Maharashtra and Delhi (Ministry of Health and Family

Welfare, GOI).

23

Most of the countries including even developed

nations like United States, Italy, and United Kingdom are not pre-

pared enough to deal with this pandemic. Presently, the worry is

not for just human well-being besides for the worldwide economy

which is most noticeably awful hit in each viewpoint. Economic

disturbances are probably going to be more extreme and extended

in developing and emerging countries with bigger domestic out-

breaks and the more fragile and weak healthcare system; with larger

exposure to international spillovers through various channels like

trade, tourism, and commodity and financial markets; weaker macro-

economic frameworks; and more pervasive informality and poverty

(Global Economic Prospects, World Bank, 2020). It is not just a

health crisis; it is the economic and humanitarian crisis and called a

black swan by many economists. As a result of its infectious nature,

almost all nations favored lockdown to limit its spread. Following

this, India initially proclaimed a one-day “Janata Curfew”on March

22, 2020. From there on, a total lockdown was reported in India at

first for 21 days which was extended to an additional 19 days, and

thereafter it got broadened further with minor relaxations. After

June 1, many relaxations are given to proceed with the economic

activities but borders of some states are sealed even now

depending on the severity of the health crisis in a particular state.

All the economic activities however now been provided some relax-

ations after a complete halt on them but an unprecedented loss has

already occurred and the economy is shaken badly.

India is also amid a sever e crisis. “This is the greatest emergenc y

for the Indian econom y since independenc e,”said Raghuram Raj an,

former RBI Governor. This is worse than the financialcrisis of 2008,

which affected the demand side but workers/people could still go to

work, the financial conditions of government of India was sound but

it seems that everything is against the economy this year.

4

Almost all

Received: 25 June 2020 Accepted: 4 July 2020

DOI: 10.1002/pa.2266

J Public Affairs. 2021;21:e2266. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/pa © 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd 1of7

https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2266