-The Indian Express While the two-month national lockdown generally dampened spending, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies saw certain unusual trends in demand in certain product categories, company executives said. As India remained locked down in April and May to control the spread of the novel coronavirus, people bought more bread, cheese, coffee, and jams — but less fruity cakes. They expectedly bought a lot of hand sanitisers — but not so expectedly,...

-The Hindu As output and demand slow, India must retain twin focus on the pandemic and economy Output in the eight core industries suffered an overall contraction for a third straight month in May, shrinking 23.4%, as the pandemic-induced lockdown kept large parts of the economy shuttered, the Commerce Ministry’s provisional figures show. Of the eight, all but one posted declines in production compared with a year earlier, with six sectors witnessing...

-TheWire.in Even if up to half of the returned migrants leave the state again, the question of how the rest will find gainful employment is both a political and economic issue. One way of looking at India’s lockdown’s strategy was that it came too early, was the strictest of any country, and is now being done away with at a juncture when cases have not even peaked. The worst is still to...

-The Indian Express Viable companies, with good credit history, are able to raise funds, but the most needy among the MSMEs are facing a double whammy: slump in demand and lack of finance. Banks have started disbursing funds to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises under the 100% Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman last month but for many firms, hit hard by the pandemic lockdown, credit is...

-Business Standard Hit by the slump in sugar demand following lockdown and consequent subdued realisations, mills have run up huge farmers' outstanding pertaining to the current sugar season 2019-20 Lucknow: Unlocking an additional revenue stream for the beleaguered domestic sugar sector, the Central government has allowed the export of alcohol-based hand sanitizer, a commodity in high demand globally in the fight against Covid-19. On May 6, the Centre banned the export of the...