India’s Key Growth Engine Grinds to Halt in Sign of Slump
- Data due Friday to show growth slowed in the quarter to March
- Travel, tourism, hospitality among worst hit services sectors
Travelers wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) walk through the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi, India, on May 25.
Photographer: T. Narayan/BloombergFrom call centers to hotels to airlines, India’s key services industries have come to a standstill during the coronavirus outbreak, dragging the economy into possibly its worst recession on record.
Businesses providing services of everything from technology to travel and trade were the first to be hit when the government took unprecedented steps to lock down a nation of 1.3 billion people to stem the pandemic’s spread. Unlike manufacturing-heavy economies like China and South Korea, in India, the services sector accounts for 55% of gross domestic product -- and the slump in output has had ripple effects on jobs and economic growth.