Covid-19 2nd wave may cost India Rs one lakh crore

The upsurge in new Covid-19 cases, fears of lockdown in Maharashtra and tougher restrictions in other states battered the Indian share market, wiping off over Rs 8 lakh crore of investors wealth on Monday.

A loss of Rs 8 lakh crore in the market value of listed companies amidst apprehension of a major hit that’s how the stock market came to terms, numerically, with the surging coronavirus cases across the country on Monday. Now that the second wave of the pandemic in Asia’s third-biggest economy shows no signs of ebbing any time soon, what will be the extent of loss to the overall output? “The hit will be closer to Rs 1 lakh crore if Covid-related restrictions in Maharashtra and elsewhere come to an end in April. It may be much higher if the same trend persists in May,” Madan Sabnavis, a chief economist at Care Ratings, a leading credit-ratings agency in the country, told India Today.