With Karnataka stepping out of the lockdown, signs of recovery were witnessed in some areas of the State economy such as registration of vehicles, e-way bills and consumption of electricity.
In the State, vehicle registration rose sharply from 37,831 in May to 92,196 in June. The strongest pick-up in registrations in June over May was witnessed in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Delhi, the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) of the Centre said in its report for July.
At the national level, vehicle registrations rose to 9.9 lakh in June from 2.1 lakh in May, though it is still lower than previous year levels. The year-on-year (YoY) contraction eased from 88.6% in May to 41.6% in June, the report noted.
In Karnataka, e-way bill generation improved significantly at ₹86,437 crore in June as against ₹63,698 crore in May.
Value of e-way bills suggestive of intra and inter-State movements of goods, also picked up strongly in June over May, across all States.
At the national level, e-way bills improved from ₹8,98,714 crore in May to ₹12,40,092 crore in June.
There was a recovery in GST collections in the unlocking phase. The State GST collection stood at ₹6,710 crore in June, as opposed to ₹2,028.54 crore in April and ₹4,508.64 crore in May. However, it was ₹7,144 crore in the pre-lockdown March.
At the national level, GST collections stood at ₹87,422 crore during this July, 86% of the figure during last July.
The revenues for June (₹90,917 crore) were higher than in July. However, it is to note that during June, a large number of taxpayers paid taxes pertaining to February, March and April, 2020, on account of the relief provided due to COVID-19.
Electricity consumption altered in June as compared to May, with strongest recoveries in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, and Chhattisgarh. Electricity consumption in Karnataka stood at 5,293 mega units (MU) in June as against 6,046 MU in May, the Centre said.
With regard to job creation under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme, the State created 245 lakh person days in June against 209 lakh person days in May.
The DEA report said, “As the Indian economy stepped out of the nationwide lockdown in phases since May, economic activity picked up.” It further said the future economic recovery of India was crucially linked to how the COVID-19 infection curve evolved across States.
“With the forecast of a normal monsoon at 102% of long-period average, agriculture, which contributes about 15% of total gross value added, is set to cushion the shock of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Indian economy in 2020-21,” the report noted.
“Though the country is well on the path to a recovery from a trough in April… the increase in COVID-19 cases and subsequent intermittent lockdowns make the recovery prospects fragile,” the DEA said.
