Mumbai: Citing the latest data related to the High Frequency Indicators (HFIs), the Centre has said that the economy is showing ‘strong signs’ of recovery, adding that among the 22 HFIs, full recovery has been achieved in 19. The levels of these 19 economic indicators, the Centre said, are higher in September, October and November this year, as compared to their pre-pandemic figures, during the same months in 2019.
“High Frequency indicators are being monitored to track the progress of economic recovery in India since the first Covid-19 case was reported in January 2020. Among the 19 indicators which have recorded full recovery, the improvement in some is at way more than 100 per cent. These include E-way bill volume, merchandise exports, coal production, rail freight etc.
This suggests that not only is the recovery complete, the economic growth is now gathering momentum over the pre-pandemic levels of output,” news agency PTI quoted officials as saying.As per the latest data, E-way bill volume was at 7.4 crore in October 2021, up 139 per cent from October 2019.
The rise for merchandise imports, exports, coal production, rail freight traffic etc. was recorded at 146 per cent, 135 per cent, 131 per cent and 125 per cent, respectively. Fertiliser sales, power consumption, cement production, port cargo traffic, fuel consumption, IIP and 8-core industries are all above pre-Covid levels as well.
The only three indicators which did not record cent per cent improvement are steel consumption (at 99 per cent of 2019 levels), domestic auto sales (86 per cent) and air passenger traffic (66 per cent).
These latest figures come in the backdrop of further improvement in the economy, with the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growing 8.4 per cent in the July-September quarter of the 2020-21 fiscal year, as against contraction of 7.4 per cent for the same period last year.
