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Common man still in distress as Indian Economy Bounces Back
SME WORLD Bureau
Oct 2009
Oct 2009
Page 1 of 4
Indian economy is on the move again. A year of tears and turbulence for the entrepreneurs seems to be withering away. The markets are once again getting ready to welcome customers. Bustling bazaars are coming back, though slowly. The pangs of 'recession' and 'slowdown' are being forgotten as a bad dream. Clouds of recession are clearing. Investors' eyes are brightening up again as Sensex promises to rise again. The sluggish economy will soon be a thing of the past. The blues of the recession are beginning to blow over.
The growth in industrial production has given strong signals that fresh investments are picking up and the industry is on the rebound.
The important thing remains; what have we learnt from the year-long economic slowdown? Will we make ourselves ready to face such a situation in the future? But how? How does our 'aam admi' feel about it?
These are some of the questions bothering most entrepreneurs and our economists?
The recovery phase may mean a fresh lease of life for our industry; the rural economy seems to be still in doldrums. Farmers in most parts of the country, continue to be in distress with cattle dying due to lack of fodder and failure of crops as a result of belated rains.
'Aam Admi' in distress
For the common man or our 'aam admi', the economy is yet too difficult for the sustenance. The major challenge still facing the economy is price rise, especially of food products. The wholesale price index is continuously registering an upward trend making survival too dicult for the common man. “How are we concerned with the economic recovery if our life continues to be in distress. Look at the prices of daily needs. For us, it is recession,” quips a housewife living in central Delhi.
Prices of food items have literally gone through the roof with even the poor man's diet of "dal-chaawal" (lentils and rice) being badly hit. Prices of tur dal and other pulses have touched Rs.90 per kilogram. Vegetables' prices are also soaring.
“My business did suffer in the last one year when a sudden bout of recession dawned on the industry. Things are better now and we beginning to find customers again and our production line is getting set to its old pace, says Amril Mahajan, an small entrepreneur manufacturing electronic components in Noida. He hastens to add, “we are equally concerned about the rising cost of living. The government must do something to strike an even balance or else the economic recovery will have no meaning if the lot of common man is not imptoved.”
Although the government is trying to ensure that sufficient imports of pulses and edible oils are carried out to stabilise prices as the festival season begins. However, official estimates say, inventories of both wheat and rice are sufficient to meet the demand for the next 12 months, but prices of other items like sugar, fruits and vegetables have been going up relentlessly in recent weeks.
However in the gloomy scenario on the food front, there is cheer in other sectors of the economy. For instance, the total inflow of funds by FIIs crossed the $10-billion mark recently. This comes after a year of net outflow of $12 billion in 2008 and a record inflow of $17.7 billion in 2007. The stock market is fast recovering and sensex is going up.
The job losses seem to be over. Companies have restarted hiring again. It is learnt that technology majors like TCS, Infosys and Wipro, IBM are now begining to offer jobs again.
The badly hit export industry is beginning to breathe again. Artisans especially in the gens and jewellary industry who were shown the door as a sudden freeze in demand are being called again.
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