Grim Report: India Will Recover From COVID-19 Scars Only In 2035, Says RBI

New Delhi: India will take up to 13 years to fully recover from the scars of COVID-19 pandemic, reckons the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

The country’s central bank and the regulatory body for banking system said in its latest report that India was one of the worst-hit nations during the global coronavirus pandemic.

“India suffered among the biggest pandemic induced losses in the world in terms of output, lives and livelihoods, which may take years to recover. Economic activity has barely recovered to pre-COVID levels even after two years,” said the report on Currency and Finance 2021-22 titled ‘Revive & Construct’.

“Taking the actual growth rate of -6.6 per cent for 2020-21, 8.9 per cent for 2021-22 and assuming growth rate of 7.2 per cent for 2022-23, and 7.5 per cent beyond that, India is expected to overcome COVID-19 losses in 2034-35,” the report observed.

The report added that the COVID pandemic is a watershed moment and the ongoing structural changes catalysed by the pandemic can potentially alter the growth trajectory in the medium term.

The Russia-Ukraine conflict has also dampened the momentum of recovery, with its impact transmitting through record high commodity prices, weaker global growth outlook and tighter global financial conditions, RBI stated.