Recovery tracker: Workplace visits dip; nitrogen dioxide emissions down

Power generation holds steady compared to previous week

A surge in Covid-19 cases and worries about a second wave have caused some indicators of economic recovery, which Business Standard tracks on a weekly basis, to slip.

All data is as of March 21, except for Google’s location data, which is released with a lag and is as of March 16.

Traffic congestion is 15 per cent below normal in New Delhi, according to data from global location technology firm TomTom International. It is down around 37 per cent in Mumbai with Covid-19 cases increasing in the financial capital (see chart 1).

Emissions of nitrogen dioxide have also fallen. The pollutant comes from industrial activity and vehicles. It is down 16 per cent in Delhi. Numbers are compared to 2019 since the previous year would show the effects of the lockdown that began in March 2020. The fall in emissions is sharper in Mumbai (see charts 2, 3).

Search engine firm Google uses location data to see how people are moving during the pandemic. It categorises places and sees how visits have varied compared to pre-pandemic times. The latest data shows people spending more time at home. Workplace visits have declined after recovering in the initial part of the year (see chart 4).

The growth in goods that the Indian Railways carried was lower than what was seen in the previous week. It fell to 10.5 per cent from 18.5 per cent earlier. Earnings growth from the goods carried fell from 17.8 per cent to 11.3 per cent (see chart 5).

Power generation is, however, one of the few indicators that held its own. Power generation growth over 2019 for the week ending March 14 was 11.1 per cent. It is now 11.8 per cent. It had fallen significantly at the peak of the lockdown when offices and factors had shut down (see chart 6).  

Business Standard tracks these numbers as they give an indication of how the economy is doing. Analysts globally have been tracking similar numbers since countries went into lockdown. These indicators help to understand how the economy is doing ahead of the official macroeconomic data, which is often released with a lag.