India, March 7 -- How did a once-in-a-century pandemic impact the Indian economy?

The most mechanical or rather dehumanised way to answer this question would be to say it triggered an annual economic contraction (of 5.8%) - the first in four decades - thereby derailing future economic growth to sub-par levels for a considerable period. (See Chart 1)

A more nuanced answer requires looking at the economic data in greater detail and flagging multiple trends which delineate the pandemic's economic impact across class, sectors and various stakeholders in the Indian economy.

Even in the immediate aftermath of the pandemic, its disruption was not the same across sectors. Sectors such as agriculture did not face any lockdown-like conditions. O...