8 CONTRIBUTIONS - 8.1 India

As the Indian economy was gradually opening up after the extensive lockdowns caused by the first wave of COVID-19 during most of 2020, the second wave hit most parts of the country from March to April 2021 and interrupted the recovery briefly. From June 2021, recovery has again been underway. The second wave had less impact on the supply side, and consumer demand also continued to recover. Since the lockdowns imposed during the second wave were state-wide, as against nationwide lockdowns during the first wave, they had a limited impact. The government introduced a number of initiatives to help the economy, which brought growth back on track. The Reserve Bank of India has declared gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 9.5% during fiscal year (FY) 2020–2021. Estimates for growth in FY 2021–2022 vary from 8.5 to 10.0%.