Here is what high-frequency data shows:
Borrowings by states rise sharply as economy shuts down
New Investments Slip in FY20
- FY20 ended with new investments of Rs 11.9 lakh crore; this is much lower than the Rs 13.1 lakh crore in FY19
- September and December quarters saw an improvement but new investments shrunk again in the March quarter, probably due to the shutdown
- Of the 431 new projects announced during the March quarter, 44 were in the power sector
Sharp Slowdown in Project Completions Too
- Projects worth Rs 776,400 crore were completed in quarter ended March 31, 2020; Rs 4 lakh crore worth of completions were scheduled for the quarter
- The completions during FY20, at Rs 4.1 lakh crore, were 37 per cent lower than the Rs 6.5 lakh crore in FY19
Food Subsidy Falls; Bad News for FCI
- The Centre's food subsidy bill falls 10 per cent in FY20
- This means - just as in previous few years - the Centre is transferring a major part of this burden to FCI
- FCI debt has been ballooning; it rose to Rs 2.65 lakh crore in March 2019, up from Rs 91,409 crore in March 2014
Direct Benefit Transfers Fall 23% in FY20
- The Centre's direct benefit transfers (cash and kind) fell to Rs 2.53 lakh crore in FY20 from Rs 3.3 lakh crore in FY19
- This is partly due to reduction in transfers under key schemes such as MGNREGA and Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G)
Cargo Traffic at India's Major Ports Up 1.4% During Apr 2019-Feb 2020
- Cargo traffic at India's major ports grew 1.4 per cent to 643 million tonnes during April 2019-February 2020
- Traffic of petroleum, oil & lubricants rose 2.7 per cent to 216.9 million tonnes
- Iron ore rose 36 per cent to 50 million tonnes and container increased 2.1 per cent to 134.8 million tonnes
- Coal plunged 10.8 per cent, fertiliser raw material (dry) 0.3 per cent and other goods 5.6 per cent