Signs of global economy emerging from COVID impact: RBI Governor Das

Mumbai: Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das said on Wednesday the world is witnessing initial signs of recovery from the impact of coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

The pandemic caused structural changes in global economy and impacted the poor more. "COVID-19 is a watershed event in our era. It has caused widespread devastation of lives and livelihoods. There are very few parallels to this shock," he said. Das was speaking at 48th convention of the All India Management Association (AIMA) here. The session was titled 'Beyond Recovery: New Rules of the Game.'

"The pandemic is likely to leave indelible marks on the world economy," said Das adding that the pandemic has affected the poor and the vulnerable more.

In India too, he said, COVID-19 has impacted many dynamic sectors of the economy and propelled them to opt for greater adoption of new digital technologies.

"The COVID pandemic has provided a new impetus to technology-driven companies such as fintech, edtech and healthtech which are likely to see increased funding activity in the coming years," said Das.

At the same time, the Indian financial system has transformed rapidly to support the needs of economy," he said adding that recovery has been uneven among different sectors.

He said the Production linked incentive (PLI) scheme is an important initiative to boost manufacturing sector. "It is necessary that sectors and companies which benefit from the PLI utilise this opportunity to further improve efficiency."

Das said the global recovery has been uneven across countries and sectors. Advanced economies have normalised faster on back of a higher pace of vaccination and larger policy support.

Emerging and developing economies are lagging due to slow access to vaccines and binding constraints on policy support, he said.
On the whole, said Das, while the pandemic has created enormous challenges, it can also act as an inflection point to alter the course of development. Enhanced adoption of technology will give impetus to productivity, growth and income.