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News Desk: The Indian economy shrank 23.9% year-on-year in the second quarter of 2020, much worse than market forecasts of an 18.3% drop. It is the biggest contraction on record, as India imposed a coronavirus lockdown in late March and extended it several times, halting most economic activities. Still, India remains the third worst-affected country in the world by the pandemic.
Construction (-50.3%), hotels and transportation (-47%) and manufacturing (-39.3%) recorded the biggest falls. Mining and quarrying (-23.3%); finance, real estate and business services (-5.3%); and utilities (-7%) also declined while the farm sector grew 3.4%. On the expenditure side, gross fixed capital formation recorded the biggest decrease (-47.1%). Private spending shrank 26.7%, inventories fell 20.8%, exports went down 19.8% and imports sank 40.4%. In contrast, government consumption jumped 16.4% as the government implemented relief measures to help curb the impact of the pandemic.
