Mid-year review of economy: Some signs of recovery amid the hurdles

Lack of private investments, muted demand and a spike in Covid numbers may spoil the show

The finance ministry has stopped coming out with the mid-year review of the economy in the winter session of Parliament. This time the winter session itself won't be there.

In the absence of that, let us present Business Standard's half-year assessment of the economy for 2020-21.

Even after the government capital expenditure fell by 38 per cent in the second quarter of the current financial year against a rise of 40 per cent in the first quarter, the economy surprised everyone by contracting 7.5 per cent during July-September. Most analysts had projected more than nine per cent decline. The economy