BT history: Dealing with pandemics

Business Today, May 25, 2003

The Indian economy won’t be laid low by SARS, but that doesn’t mean it will be wholly immune to the virus either.

India may be SARS-free as the World Health Organization has so obligingly declared, but its economy is, evidently, not immune to the fallout from the outbreak. The shipping industry, for instance, is almost grounded: deliveries to the ports of Singapore and Hong Kong have all but ceased and apart from hurting India’s bilateral trade with these regions, this has hit India’s exports to the US West Coast and Australia (shipments are routed through either Singapore or Hong Kong) hard.

Postscript: Will H1NI hit India harder than SARS and affect both domestic industries and international trade? As of now, we seem to be better off than the likes of the US and Mexico, but with many academic institutions, malls and even offices shutting down for a few days across different towns, matters may come to a head, unless the health ministry steps in quickly.