Jobs lost, income cut: How Covid-19 financially dented India's middle class

For Indians who had newly joined the growing middle class, the economic crisis following the pandemic has dealt a severe blow

When the second wave of Covid-19 was beginning its steep climb in India in April 2021 and most states were locking down, thereby putting a freeze on economic activity, Jitendra Singh feared the worst. Singh, 27, expected to lose his city job and be forced to return to his small village of Nagla Moti in Etawah district, western Uttar Pradesh.

Singh was born into hardship in Etawah, and had lost his father during his childhood, he told IndiaSpend. But by the 2000s, India's economy was growing fast and its ripple effects were showing in tens of thousands of small towns