Indian economy is recovering from COVID-19 crisis, says World Bank President David Malpass

The Indian economy that was hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic is now in recovery mode and the World Bank welcomes that, its president David Malpass said on Wednesday.

Malpass also said that India, which faces huge challenges of integrating more people into the formal sector economy and raising the earnings of the people, has made some progress but that's not enough.

“Indians were hard hit by the waves of COVID and that's unfortunate. They responded with the huge production of vaccines and there's been progress on the vaccination effort. But we have to recognise the hit that COVID caused on the Indian economy and especially on the informal sector of the Indian economy which is large,” Malpass told reporters here.

Last week, the World Bank projected the Indian economy to grow at 8.3 per cent this year.

He also said India, like other nations, is now facing a supply chain disruption due to the COVID-19.

“The Indian economy is recovering, and we welcome that. It’s going through to the other side of the COVID of …the, the latest wave. That's good. But India, like other countries, is hit hard now by the supply chain disruptions and by the inflation that's been rising in the world,” Malpass said in response to a question.

“I'm giving the general mixed view that there's progress, but not enough. India faces huge challenges of integrating more people into their economy into the formal sector economy and raising the earnings of people,” he said.

The Indian government, he said, is focused on that.

Malpass said he went to India in late 2019 and saw the changes that were being made that were quite positive in terms of the banking system, the financial system, the civil service system, and ways that India was looking for ways to improve the clean water situation which is very important in India for child nutrition for improving nutrition.

Clean water is one of the most important starting points for life, he said.

“I've mentioned that this is a huge, giant challenge for the world's biggest democracy,” Malpass said.