Ten charts that show the recovering parts of the $2.7 trillion Indian economy

Petrol and diesel consumption declined by up to 60% in April when the lockdown was in force. However, since then, consumption has picked up pace again, with the fall in demand reduced to 18% in June from 60% in April.

The petrol and diesel prices have increased by ₹9.17 and ₹11.4 a litre respectively from June 7 to 29.

Despite constraints and frequent local lockdowns, urban India is trying to reach normalcy with Unlock 1.0 underway in several parts of the country. Power consumption, which is one of the key indicators of economic activity⁠— particularly because factories consume enormous amounts of electricity⁠ — has touched 90% of last year’s demand after dipping to 70% in April this year.

With goods movement resuming in May, electronic toll collections have increased rapidly. This, along with e-way bill generation and fuel consumption suggests that the manufacturing industry is making a recovery steadily.

With movement of goods and the economy opening up, GST collections have once again come back to normal, touching 90% of FY20 average in June.

Under the goods and services tax (GST), an e-way bill is required by transporters to carry while moving goods from one place to another. The e-way bills are another indicator of trade activity, and after crashing in April during the nationwide lockdown, they have picked up pace again. In June 2020, 39.9 million e-way bills were generated, as compared to 49.7 million in June 2019.

With prediction of a normal monsoon this year, farmers have spent twice as much on purchasing fertilizers this year compared to 2019. While April saw an increase of 50% in spends, May witnessed an increase of 100%, when compared to the same period last year.

After crashing in April and May, the number of tractors registered daily has touched 90% of the average levels of last year, which is another indicator that farming activity is back on track.

Again, the prediction of a normal monsoon and 15% excess rainfall in June has pushed farmers to increase kharif sowing area by more than 50% in June compared to the same period last year.

India’s manufacturing purchase manager’s index (PMI) saw an increase of 50% in June when compared to May. However, the recent lockdown extensions in some parts of the country and the rising COVID-19 cases threaten to slow down India’s manufacturing PMI again.

“For a start, the breakdown of the manufacturing PMI suggests that output is recovering faster than employment. While the new orders component jumped from 21.4 in May to 46.4 in June, the employment component only edged up from 42.7 in May to 44.2 in June,” said Darren Aw, Asia economist at the London-based Capital Economics.

With Unlock 1.0 allowing resumption of several economic activities, unemployment rates have fallen rapidly in June, crashing to as low as 7.26% after peaking at 29.22% in May.